Blood and Love
by infinity-PROKNIFER69
Summary: A mercenary tries to forget all the horror he's seen, all the blood, gore and sickening stuff that only a mercenary would see. He wants to find a reason to live, something to make the pain go away, he finds something more. A soul mate. A Lucario.
1. Blood and bullets

Midnight, there are six men standing in the woods heavily armed. The men have woodland camouflage clothing, carrying MP5 submachine guns, 9mm semi-automatic pistols and combat knives. A man steps forward, he's the oldest of the six, light blue eyes, scar down the left cheek and a shaved head.

"Okay lads, this mission pays big so I would be grateful if you actually keep your mind on the mission instead of pissing about. DWAYNE!" The man shouted over to one of the other men.

"What?" Came the reply from the pissed looking man with short black hair.

"Do you even know where we are Dwayne?" Chipped in a man with short red hair styled into a faux hawk, his hair being a light shade of blond at the ends.

"Hoenn." Said Dwayne.

"Alright, can you both shut the fuck up and pay attention? Now, this is for the rookies among you, my name is Carter, the guy next to me with the haircut is Richard, second in command, and I am damn sure that that you all know Dwayne. Now you know our names we move on to the mission." Carter announced to the men.

"How come you don't need to know our names?" Spoke up one of the unnamed rookies.

"Because you probably wont live through this mission." Dwayne said flatly.

"Who are we fighting?" the question came from one of the other rookies. Richard looked at this rookie 'He's... young' thought Richard 'Too young to become a merc.'

"How old are you?" Richard asked some concern in his voice.

"... Twe-twenty." came the reply from the rookie.

"No, your not. You should get out of here" Richard gave the rookie a look like he was staring into his soul.

"Cut the chatter. To answer the rookies question we are going to be fighting a group of twenty inbred killers, real sick fucks. We get paid big if we get them all, even more if we find out why they doing this. So far there have been over fifty missing people reported around this area and four police officers. Those police officers were carrying small arms so we have to assume that they too have guns." Carter finished with a sigh.

"Where are they holding out?" Richard inquired.

"A cottage about 1 mile away from here." Carter said with another sigh.

"We should split up into teams of two." Richard said.

Carter walked towards Richard. "Teams of two against twenty gun crazy killers?"

"Use flashbangs, lob them through the windows it will confuse them, they come stumbling out and we shoot when they come out" Richard knew his plan wasn't great but it was the best plan he had.

"What if one of them sees us, what if they are waiting outside for us?" Carter asked trying to find holes in Richards plan.

"Then we throw some out side of the cottage and hope that they are too confused to see us." Richard just looked at Carters face, trying to work out what he was thinking.

" … I don't like this but I cant think of anything better" Carter mumbled.

"Fine, we go in groups of two. Who do you want to take with you." Carter asked Richard

"The kid." they both knew who he was talking about.

"Okay, I will go with Dwayne and the two rookies can go with each other, alright LETS MOVE!" Carter ordered before walking through th

_45 minutes later._

The men had taken their positions and had been observing the targets for 5 minutes, they knew they found the right place. There was at least 3 dead bodies in sight outside of the cottage, their heads were bashed open, exposing their skulls. One looked like it had been disemboweled and everybody was shocked to see what they were doing to one body, it was a female's body… And they were having sex with it like some kind of fuck toy. All of the six men wanted to do something about it, Richard wanted to cut their dicks off, Dwayne wanted to gouge their eyes out and stamp on their heads, Carter just wanted to blow their brains out. Richard signaled to Carter to throw the flashbangs, every one of the six men had a flashbang in hand, they all pulled the pins simultaneously. Richard counted in his head.

"One"

"Two"

"Three!"

There was a blinding light, several deafening cracks followed by a hail of gun fire.

"FUCKING DIE YOU SICK FUCKS!" Dwayne was shouting as loud as he could but Richard couldn't hear him, he couldn't hear much at all, his aim became deadly accurate, shredding the bodies of the killers only stopping to reload.

The two other rookies were standing and hiding behind 2 different trees, they were both too focused on the larger group of killers to notice one of them launching a molotov cocktail their way from one of the cottages windows, it landed right at the feet of one of the rookies making him run out of cover so one of the killers could get a clear shot with their hunting rifles. The rookie was still on fire and still alive, he tried to run behind another tree but got hit in the back, sending him to the ground where he stayed. The rookie that didn't get ht by the molotov ran for cover as fast as he could, he could feel the bullets whizzing past his face knowing that one wrong move and his head will get blown off, he finally reached another tree where he intended to wait the fire fight out.

"YOU FUCKING PUSSIES!" Dwayne became more and more pissed off until finally he truly snapped. He sprinted forward passing the cottage and straight towards where one of the killers was taking cover, the killer decided to take a few pot shots at the mercenaries and was caught completely off guard when he saw the machine gun pointed directly between his eyes. Dwayne pulled the trigger spilling the sick fuck's brains on the ground. Dwayne turned around and came face to face with a huge hulking man with an axe, his instinct was to run, he tried but the man had swung the axe straight at his back. He felt it hit his back and he felt his warm blood running down his spine, he knew he was dead but that didn't stop him from reaching his pistol. The man dragged his hair back to look at his face, when he did this, Dwayne brought up his pistol and shot him in the face and the man dropped to the ground, as did Dwayne.

"Fucking hell… Dwayne." Was all Carter could say after what he just saw.

"Six." Richard muttered.

"WHAT?" shouted the rookie.

"There's six left." Richard replied calmly. He set his sights on one of the killers… But stopped. The person in his sights and aiming the gun at both him and his team mates only looked to be about 12 years old. The boy saw him, he took aim… The boy fell. Richard did not shoot him, the rookie next to him did. Richard and the rookie took cover, Richard stared at him not believing what just happened. The rookie returned the stare and simply said, "Five."

_10 minutes later_

The fire fight continued till there was only one left. He was hiding somewhere in the house. Carter went for the front door, Richard and the two rookies covered him and made sure they didn't escape from the windows.

Carter opened the door, his MP5 now out of bullets and now using his pistol he walked from room to room, in the living room were a number of bodies, the kitchen looked like something out of a horror movie, a human arm with 3 of its fingers cut off was on the table on a plate, he thought to him self, 'is this why they did it? FOR A FUCKING MEAL!'

Suddenly, a clanging noise sounded, like a pan dropping to the floor.

Carter immediately spun himself around as his attention was drawn to the closet in the kitchen, he reached for the door handle and slowly began to open it, he then opened it quickly to reveal one of the killers, he was wounded and bleeding badly, he was around in his 30's. Carter could see the same gun besides the man that the others used to fire at him and his team, except that one was empty. Carter lifted up his gun and simply said, "Fuck you." Before blowing his brains out.

"CLEAR!" Carter's voice rang out to his men.

"GO!" Richard ran for the cottage door followed by the two rookies. He then stopped them at the door.

"I need one of you to watch the door." Richard told the rookies.

"I'll do it." Said the kid rookie.

Richard moved into the house, the first thing that hit him was the smell of death. Richard instinctively held a hand to his nose, he saw Carter in the corner of the living room. "Carter… whats wrong?"

"... This is too fucked up, are things always going to be like this?" Carter said, his voice crackling a little, Richard has known him for 3 years now and has never seen him show any kind of sadness.

"I hope not." Richard replied.

"I fight… For the money. What do you fight for Richard?" Carter asked.

Richard was surprised by this, nobody asked him why he does this before. He thought hard, but could only find one answer. "I don't know what i fight for, I only know why I fight" Richard said.

"Why's that then?" Carter questioned.

"Because I have no reason to live." Richard told him.

There was a long silence, Richard then broke that silence.

"Come on, there nothing left here."

As both Richard and Carter left, they both noticed one thing, the rookies were gone. Richard was about to shout out to them, until he was hit hard on the back of the head. Richard dropped to the ground stopping himself by moving his hands in front of himself. His vision became blurred but he could just make out 2 figures fighting for their life.

"**YOU KILLED MY FAMILY**!" The man was big and looked like he could do some damage. Carter would just shoot him if he still had his gun, his eyes went behind the man as he saw his gun lying right behind his opponent's feet, he took his eyes off it as he was charged by the big man, he was surprisingly fast for his size but apparently not fast enough to stop Carter from punching him in the face. The big guy recovered fast and Carter was ready, "**MY SONS! YOU KILLED THEM ALL!**" The large man ranted.

"Yeah, I know, I was there." Carter replied.

The big guy threw a punch at Carter's face which connected, he was knocked off balance and almost fell over, when he recovered another punch came at his face and again connected. This time it was enough to send him to the ground.

Richard got up but his vision was still blurry, he could make out the big guy and he went straight for him.

"**IF YOU HAVE A WIFE, I'M GOING TO ENJOY GUTTING HER RIGHT AFTER I RA-"**

His words were cut off by Richard who punched him in the jaw, and again in the stomach, but he recovered quickly and soon let out a punch that struck Richard in the nose and pushed him to the ground. Richard could feel the warm liquid running down his face, he knew he was bleeding.

Carter recovered, he pulled the knife out of the side of his boot and charged but the man saw him coming, the man grabbed the hand the knife was in and punched Carter in the face again, and again, and again making him drop to the ground. now the man had Carter's knife and almost in an instant jammed it into Carter's stomach.

Carter shouted in pain and he then looked into his killers eyes, disgusted by the sight of the man he spits a combination of his saliva and blood into his face. The knife was taken out of his stomach and he knew he was going to be stabbed again but Richards knife slid across the man's throat, blood sprayed out of the cut in his neck. He released his own knife to apply pressure to his neck even though they all knew it was useless.

Richard walked over to the man now holding his neck and plunged his combat knife into the top of his abdomen and pulled the knife along his body ripping out his intestines, he continued to pull the knife right down to his genitals which is where he stopped. Richard could see the man was still alive, he was glad for that, he wanted him to suffer.

"Richard." Carter's weak voice could hardly be heard.

"Carter!" Richard examined Carter's wound, it was deep and bleeding heavily.

"Oh… Shit, shit, SHIT!" Richard began to shout. "Carter, if your gonna live your going to have to come with me." Richard told him.

"Fuck it Richard LOOK AT ME! I'm fucking dead, just get the fuck out of here!" After Carter shouted before he began to cough up blood.

"I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME CARTER!" Richard shouted.

"YOU PISS OFF RIGHT NOW!" Carter shouted back.

Richard tried to lift Carter on to his back.

"Richard… leave me behind, I'm fucking dead already!" Richard knew he couldn't last long enough to get to a hospital but he refused to just not try.

"Just leave me… I want to die." Carter said quietly, his words barely audible.

"Just fucking hang on… just… just hang on." Richard began to cry, he tried to fight it but he couldn't, it was tearing him up inside, the only friend he's ever had might die just because he was just to slow to react, another death on his shoulders.


	2. Friend or foe?

_10 minutes later._

Richard stopped walking when he noticed he couldn't hear a sound from Carter, he feared the worst, he slowly put Carter down from his back and felt his neck for a pulse… There was none, he was dead. Carter stared at him with lifeless eyes. Richard looked him over, his body was badly beaten and there was a lot of blood around his stomach where he had been stabbed. Richard nearly thought Carter to be indestructible, he always went on the deadliest missions and always came out on top even when all the others died around him. Richard just sat on the grassy ground with Carter's lifeless body, unable to think, just wanting this all to end.

It began to rain, but rain wasn't going to move Richard from his spot in the forest.

_20 minutes later._

Richard was still sitting there even now the rain had turned into a storm. He replayed the events in his head, asking different questions. 'Why the fuck couldn't I just push my self off the ground and try find my gun to blow the fucker's brains out? Where did the rookies go? Are they still alive? Or did the big fat fuck kill them?' Richard asked himself a lot of questions but the one that always seemed to pop up was, 'Why am I still alive?'

Richard regained his senses and left Carter's body behind. Only when he stood up did he realize how cold he had gotten, he was freezing. He decided to look for shelter, he knew caves were common in this area, if he could find one, it just might save him from suffering the symptoms of hypothermia. He came across a cave only a few feet away from him and took shelter. Richard was exhausted, the adrenaline had left his body from the fight and he took some nasty blows. He thought back to when the big man punched him in the face and he could feel blood running down his face. As he thought back his hand reached for his nose, he his hand met his nose which made him twitch in pain a little. He then reached down to his nostrils and found crusty blood. He would have wiped it but he just didn't care anymore and he decided that there's nothing else to do except for wait in the cave till the storm goes down. He decided it was probably safer if he got into the back of the cave, if one of those psychos were still alive and found him sleeping… they would probably torture him before killing him. He slept a little further down the cave with his knife in his hand.

_5 minutes later._

Footsteps and heavy breathing were the sounds that filled the cave. Richard was now awake and he knew that someone was there with him, someone who just entered the cave. Richard's grip on his knife tightened and he tried to remain as still as possible, he knew now that choosing to sleep in the darker end was the right call. He raised his head to try to get a good look at who entered the cave hoping that its not one of the crazies. Richard now looked to the entrance of the cave and was surprised by what he saw. It was a Pokemon, black legs, blue thighs, long blue tail, cream colored torso with a spike coming from the center of its chest, blue arms, black paws with nasty looking spikes on it's wrists, big blue pointy ears, the head was mostly blue except for a black stripe along where its eyes were and down the middle of its head, that feature kind of reminded him of a raccoon except it looked more like a jackal. Richard knew very little about Pokemon but this one he knew straight away, it was a Lucario. He knew them well because they were exceptional fighters, but that made him a little more cautious because if that Lucario turns out to be hostile then he may very well get killed by it. Richard just looked closely at it, it was breathing heavily and some blood could be seen on its fur, it looked like it was distressed about something, like it saw something terrible, just like Richard. Richard wanted to talk to it even though his survival instincts told him not to, he wanted to know what happened. He slipped his combat knife down the side of his boot and stood up making a shuffling noise in the process which startled the Lucario.

"WHO'S THERE!" The Lucario shouted.

When the Lucario shouted Richard realized something, it was female. Richard then stepped out where the Lucario could see him. The Lucario examined him up and down, the faux hawk hair style, red hair with blond tips, a cut along the bridge of his nose which looks recent, his grayish blueish eyes, his height around about 5 foot 11 inches, His woodland army jacket stained with blood that didn't belong to him and camouflage trousers and his military issue boots. This only made the Lucario more nervous. Richard could see the fear in her eyes, he didn't want to scare her.

"I'm not here to hurt you." Richard said in a calming tone of voice.

"Wh-who are y-you?" Her voice was trembling, Richard felt sorry for her, he wanted her to know that he would never hurt her and to gain her trust, he answered her questions.

"My name is Richard, who are you?" He asked the Lucario.

"I… I don't know." The Lucario answered looking slightly more calm but still clearly scared.

"You don't know?" Richard said with confusion.

"No… what happened to you Richard?" The Lucario asked.

"We… I… I came here with 5 other men. We were all mercenaries." Richard stopped after she gave him a strange look.

"So, you were part of a group? Like a clan?" The female Lucario asked curiously.

Richard was wondering why she asked such a question. "Kind of. Anyway, we were tasked with wiping out some crazy killers in the woods and… it just turned into a nightmare..."

5 minutes went by as Richard explained what happened, how he got the cut along his nose and how he got his only friend killed. When he mentioned his friend the Lucario noticed him holding back his tears.

"It wasn't your fault." The Lucario said as she looked at Richard.

Richard looked at her, that's when he noticed her big crimson eyes. "But I could have saved him." Richard replied, his voice now sounding weak.

A moment of silence passed.

" … My name's Tera." The Lucario said.

"I thought you said that you couldn't remember your name." Richard quickly pointed out.

"I had to know that I could trust you." The Lucario replied.

Richard could understand, he wouldn't trust someone in blood stained clothes either. "I understand. What happened to you then?"

Tera took a deep breath and looked back up at Richard to answer. "... My clan was slaughtered… Only I made it out alive." She replied whilst moving her head to stare at the ground.

"When did it happen?" Richard asked.

"About two days ago." She said as her eyes appeared to twinkle with tears.

"You've been in this forest all alone for two days?" Richard asked with a little shock in his voice.

"Yes." the Lucario looked as if she was going to breakdown into tears, Richard wanted to calm her, he didn't want her to cry.

"I… I'm sorry I brought it up." Richard apologized.

"... Its fine." The Lucario sniffed.

5 more minutes had passed and Richard was now concerned for Tera who began to shiver despite her thick fur.

"Here, take this." Richard said before he placed his jacket over the shivering Lucario.

"Thank you." Tera replied as she snuggled into Richards jacket which had been warmed by his body. Richard simply smiled as he saw her close her eyes. Richard tried to get some sleep himself, after shifting positions countless times before he finally fell asleep.

_10 hours later._

Tera awoke with Richard's jacket still on her, she smiled slightly when she saw Richard sleeping sprawled out on the cave floor. Richard then awoke moments later and looked up at Tera.

"Hey... Has it stopped raining?" Richard asked whilst trying to rub his eyes.

"Yes." She said flatly.

"Is there something wrong?" Richard asked sensing something was not right.

"... I don't have anywhere to go." She replied.

"Neither do I… Don't suppose you would like to, uh, travel with me would you?" Richard asked hoping that she would come with him.

"Why would you want me to come along?" Tera asked, questioning his motives.

"Well a mercenary… Well, make that ex-mercenary, and a Lucario could make quite a team." Richard said to her.

"Y-you want me to be a part of your clan?" Tera asked still wondering whether she heard him right.

"Yep." Richard was slightly amused at the thought of being in a clan.

"Yes, I'll come along with you." Tera gave a big smile, as did Richard.

"But first I'm going to get those cuts of yours looked at."

"They will heal" The Lucario insisted.

"I know, but I don't want to take any risks" Richard told her.

_2 hours later_

Richard and Tera now sat in a cafe they had found, both of them were starving so the counted themselves lucky. Richard dumped his blood stained jacket and wore the green T shirt that was underneath it. Richard noticed the TV on the wall, the news was on showing a "gruesome shootout" crime scene "The body count is estimated at 24" Was all he could make out from the TV with low volume. This made him think if they had found Carter's body yet. Tera could see the depression on his face and decided to talk to him to take his mind off things.

"Where do you come from Richard?" The Lucario questioned.

The question caught him off guard slightly. "I come from Johto." He answered.

"How old are you?" The Lucario inquired.

"I'm 25, what about you?" Richard asked.

"I'm 24. are you good at fighting?" The Lucario responded.

Richard was intrigued as to what set off her curiosity. "Yes I am, can't be a mercenary if you can't fight… well, not a good one at least." As he finished his sentence he thought back to the rookies but quickly snapped his mind back to reality.

"Can you teach me some moves?" Tera asked.

Richard was surprised that the Lucario asked, all the things he heard about them suggested that they were exceptional fighters. He liked the idea of teaching to her, but it would have to wait till they were patched up, his head was still aching from the beating he took last night. "Sure, but it will have to wait until we're recovered. I don't want to reopen any wounds you might have." Richard said, still worried for her.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." The Lucario said reassuringly.

Richard sighed. "Okay then, how does tomorrow sound?"

"Sounds great!" Tera said joyfully.

"Ok, but first we need to find a place to stay." Richard told her.

"I think I saw a hotel not too far from here" Tera replied

"Great, lets head there now." Richard put some pokédollars on the table to pay for the food they had previously ate.

Both Richard and Tera got up from the table they were sitting at and walked out of the front walked out of the front door. The fresh air hit both Richard and Tera as soon as they came out of the cafe and made their way down to the hotel. Richard didn't know what was ahead of him, he only knew that he had better enjoy the peace while it lasted.


	3. Forgetting the horror

Richard and Tera reached the hotel and stepped into the cabin that had the sign saying, 'Reception' on it. Richard noticed an old lady behind the counter with a warm smile which Richard returned.

"Would you like a room?" The old lady asked.

"Yes, do you have any available?" Richard replied

The old lady then got out a massive book and began scanning the signatures. "Yes but its only got one queen sized bed" The old lady told the two in front of her.

Richard then thought for about 2 seconds and decided that the might as well take it. "I'll take it."

"Excellent, the room is 100 pokédollars a night." The old lady said.

Richard then reached for his wallet in his trouser pocket, as he did he wondered why he even brought it with him on a mission in the first place. He handed over the money and in turn she handed over the keys.

"Its room five, just up the hall" The old lady said as she pointed up the hall

"Thank you." Richard responded.

Richard and the Lucario were now in the room, it looked very nice and welcoming, nice wooden floor and walls, a TV, a couch, a mini bar and another door, presumably leading to the toilet and shower.

"Do you want to take the bed?" Richard asked Tera.

"No thanks, I will take the couch." She replied

"Are you sure?" Richard asked.

"Yes, besides I'm going to take a shower now." Tera replied, as she began wondering how to actually work the thing.

"Alright, I'm just going to watch some TV and maybe raid the mini bar." Richard said with a smirk.

Richard noticed her give a slight chuckle before she went to take a shower. He then turned his attention to the TV and flicked through the channels, it was just mostly random crap, talk shows and documentaries. Richard then began searching for news channels, he found some but they weren't reporting anything he cared about. He began flicking through the channels again and found a horror movie, 'Red rain' it was called, he watched the beginning. The movie was about a group of four people who's car crashed in the middle of the Forest, he turned it off when he realized it was a stupid teen slasher, he guessed it would have a woman running half naked around the forest like nearly all crappy low budget horror movies. He got bored very quickly and looked to the mini bar, he grabbed a miniature beer drank it in one gulp and lay down on the bed. He looked up to the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing in the world. He tried the TV one more time in search of news but again, nothing 'It worked for super heroes, why isn't it working for me?' he mused in his mind.

Richard noticed the bathroom door open and saw Tera, her fur now wet but clean, it almost seemed as if her fur got a little lighter, her cuts now didn't seem as bad as they were before which came as a relief to Richard. Tera noticed him looking at her and blushed slightly, not enough for him to see though. Richard noticed that he had been staring and decided to talk before things got awkward.

"Have you seen other humans before me?" Richard asked.

"Only about three or four friendly ones, our clan lived in solitude in the mountains." Tera told him.

"Didn't you ever get lonely?" Richard questioned.

"Not really, there were quite a lot of us but we didn't really talk that much. What about you? Did you get lonely whilst working as a mercenary?" Tera asked.

"Yes… sometimes I couldn't even trust my own teammates." He told her with a sigh.

"Why not?" the Lucario gave a quizzical look.

"Because they only cared about the money." Richard stated as he remembered all the greedy bastards that let their team mates die.

"Didn't you?" Tera asked.

"Not really, and defiantly not if it meant endangering more lives during the mission." Richard sternly said.

The Lucario could see his aura, making him easier to read. Tera saw he had a strong sense of justice and a lot of determination but also saw he was very sad and depressed on the inside, she also sensed the faint presence of hope and happiness.

"What are we going to do when we leave here?" The Lucario asked with some worry in her voice.

Richard thought about it long and hard and he gave his answer "We need some more money, there are probably some jobs we could do around here. We also need a place to stay, when we get some money we will work that out."

"Don't think too far ahead do you?" the Lucario said in jest.

"Heh, I guess not." Richard smiled at her little jab at him.

" … What is that?" The Lucario pointed to the box with moving pictures.

"What? The TV? You haven't seen one before?" Richard asked.

"Yes but never close up before." Tera said as she slowly walked over to it.

"Do you want to watch something on it?" Richard asked.

"Yes." The Lucario answered.

Richard quickly flicked through the channels and found one of his favorite films "Dead lands". It was about a police officer and his Lucario trapped in a zombie Apocalypse which affected Pokemon and humans alike. Richard and Tera sat down on the couch and watched the movie.

30 minutes later

Tera jumped slightly at some parts of the movie but continued to watch it while also wrapping one arm around Richards arm, which he rather liked. 60 minutes passed and the film had finished. Richard was about to move but he noticed that Tera had fallen asleep and moving would wake her, he decided to stay and close his eyes besides, he liked the feeling of her soft fur on his skin.

Some time in the morning.

Tera had opened her eyes and noticed that her head was almost buried in Richard's chest and her arm was wrapped around his, she wondered what he would think if he saw her like this so she slowly pulled her arm back and pulled her head away from Richard while trying not to wake him. She had managed to get off the couch by the time Richard awoke. He gave a big yawn and looked over to Tera who now had what looked like a grin on her face.

"Well, looks like somebody got up in a good mood." As Richard said this he suddenly remembered why she was grinning.

"Are you ready?" Tera said lifting her paws up level with her chest to make up a fighting stance.

"Wait! We cant fight here, we might do some damage to the place, besides I still have to take a shower." Richard said as Tera dropped her fighting stance.

"Where do we fight then?" Tera asked, impatiently waiting for an answer.

"In the forest." Richard replied simply.

"Then I will wait till you finish your shower then" Tera replied.

Richard headed for the shower and already he had nothing else on his mind except this fight with Tera, he had no idea what to expect from her. He's heard stories of her kind fighting before but never seen one of them fighting. His mind went to the spikes on the back of her paws and chest, he knew if one struck him in the chest then he was done for. Thinking about the fight made him nervous, he was trying to think of ways to attack her without actually hurting her.

20 minutes later

Both Richard and Tera now stood in the woods, Richard decided now was a good time to get some rules down for the fight.

"Ok, Punches, kicks and holds are fine." Richard said to the Lucario.

"What about aura spheres?" Tera asked.

Richard gave a puzzled look before asking, "Whats an aura sphere?"

Richard looked on as Tera produced a blue glowing ball of energy and sent it flying at a tree which then snapped in half.

"... Err, lets just stick with punches, kicks and holds okay?" He said as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Fine, lets fight!" She said with excitement in her voice.

Both Richard and Tera now got into a fighting stance and were facing each other just 2 meters apart. Richard shifted to the right, not taking his eyes of Tera who then shifted to the left. Richard was just waiting for an opening but her stance was solid so he instead waited for her to strike. Tera could predict his movements, but not well enough to be certain that she could take him down. Richard knew she wanted this fight and that it would only be a matter of seconds before she could not help but strike out at him.

The waiting was killing Tera and she knew that the only way to get him to engage her in combat was to strike. Richard saw her leg lift from the ground and just managed to duck in time, she was now vulnerable and he had to strike now, he threw a straight punch to her stomach whilst he was still crouching but he then backed away quickly, he managed to get the first punch in, but this was only the beginning. Tera had been hit but it wasn't enough to cause her any real pain, she had recovered quickly.

Richard decided to strike this time with a powerful kick which Tera easily predicted , she ducked and then decided to get revenge by punching Richard in the stomach. Tera backed away to let Richard recover. Richard was surprised by her punches, he was at least one foot taller than she was but it still felt like being punched by a pro boxer.

Richard decided to strike again this time trying to throw a right hook at her but she dodged that by jumping back, Richard then threw a straight punch aimed at her shoulder but she dodged by ducking down, Richard knew she was going to strike if she ducked, he looked down and could see her ready to throw another punch to his stomach. Her punch was stopped by Richard's hand which caught her off guard, whilst Richard's left hand held hers, his right fist was sent to her right shoulder which knocked her onto the ground.

Richard let Tera recover as she picked her self up from the ground she then charged for Richard, she then jumped and kicked Richard in the chest which made him stumble backwards but did not make him hit the ground. She charged for Richard again and jumped. Richard knew what was coming, he charged forwards and threw a punch which caught Tera on the left side of her chest, she fell to the ground as the wind was knocked out of her lungs.

Richard helped her back up and asked her if she wanted to continue whilst trying not to sound concerned, "Yes" she said. Tera and Richard moved back into their positions 2 meters away from each other. Richard sprinted forwards and unleashed a roundhouse kick aimed at her left arm, Tera ducked and rolled behind Richard. By the time his foot reached the ground he felt a powerful punch from behind aimed at his lower spine which made him kneel down in pain.

"Do you want to continue?" Tera asked him in a cocky tone. Richard looked up at Tera and answered "Yes." They took up their positions once more, Richard and Tera both sprinted towards each other, Tera punched Richard in the chest and Richard punched her in the ribs. Tera brought up her leg to kick Richard in the stomach but he managed to grab her leg with his right arm, he then brought his left arm across her neck and then pushed forward, slamming her down into the ground. Tera then brought up her other leg whilst down on the ground and kicked Richard in the left arm which brought away Richards left arm from her neck that her was using to pin her down and then she used both legs at once and kicked Richard in the chest pushing him of her and sending him to the ground.

Richard and Tera now looked at each other, both battered, bruised and covered in dirt.

Richard was breathing deeply. "I… think we can… call it a draw."

Tera was hyperventilating. "Can… we… do it again?"

Richard gave a slight chuckle "Heh... yeah… just not this week." Richard smiled, even though he taken a beating he didn't mind because it made him forget. Forget all the horrible missions, all the deaths on his shoulders. He was happy for the first time in years.


	4. Personal history

It was now 3 o'clock and the sun was still shining bright. Richard and Tera were now following a dirt path, neither of them knew where it would lead but they followed it anyway. Richard and Tera had given each other tips after the match they had, Tera had taught Richard how to defend himself from Pokemon while Richard taught Tera how to defend herself from humans.

Richard's bruises were now more visible but thankful most of them were on his torso so nobody could see them, not without lifting his shirt up anyway. Tera's soft fur was now covered in dirt but she didn't seem to mind.

Richard was thinking about their little sparring match, he kept thinking how agile but powerful she was, he admired it. Tera began to examine Richard's aura, the depression than she saw in him had almost vanished completely, replaced with happiness, 'Seems I wasn't the only one that enjoyed the fight' she thought to her self. Richard's mind went from his traveling companion to money, he only had 125 pokédollars left and that would probably only last one day.

"... Hey, did you hear that?" Tera asked.

"Hear what?" Richard replied, puzzled as to what she meant.

"It sounds like water."

Water was all Richard needed to hear, since the fight he felt thirsty, really thirsty. "Might be a waterfall or a spring. Can you find out where the noise is coming from?" Richard asked.

"Sure, follow me!" Tera then began running off into the woods, Richard followed closely behind her. They soon found them selves at a small waterfall, the view was amazing and the water defiantly looked clean enough to drink. Richard went over to the plunge pool which the waterfall had made and began to scoop up some of the water with his hands and drink it. Tera's first thought was to wash the dirt off her fur. Richard decided that now was a good time to take a small rest so he walked over to the shade of the tree and laid on the grass.

After a while Tera was still washing her fur in the cool water of the plunge pool and Richard was now fiddling about with his combat knife which he taken out of his boot. He examined his stainless steel knife closely, it was just like any other combat knife except that his had the letters 'CW' engraved on the end of its handle. He slid it back into the side of his boot when he noticed that Tera had came out of the plunge pool. 'She looks beautiful' as Richard thought this it soon became clear to him that he was attracted to her. Richard got up and decided to move back up to the dirt road, he didn't want to move but if he stayed then he just might have kept staring, and that would have been awkward for both of them.

_4 hours later._

It was now dark and both Richard and Tera were tired of walking still following the seemingly endless dirt road.

"Damn, doesn't look like we are going to get to a town tonight." Richard sighed

"What are we going to do then?" Asked the Lucario.

"Keep moving and hope we find some kind of shelter." Richard responded.

1 more hour passed before they stumbled upon an old rangers cabin.

"Looks abandoned." Richard commented.

"I wonder why they would leave it." Tera said.

"I don't know but as long as the roof stays on it I don't really care" Richard said as he opened the creaky wooden door.

Richard and Tera walked into the cabin, it looked creepy, like something from a horror movie, it looked like it had been stripped of anything worth money. Richard didn't like it.

"This place is creepy as hell but this is probably the only shelter we are going to get." Richard said whilst moving into the corner of the cabin.

"It's cold in here." Tera said.

"Yeah, but it's better than sleeping outside." just as Richard said this a cockroach crawled across the floor. Tera gave him a look like she was raising an eyebrow.

"... Alright I was wrong." Richard admitted

"Are we even going to find some decent shelter?" Tera asked.

"I don't know but I think sleeping on the dirt road would be better than sleeping in this dump." Richard said as he watched the cockroach scuttle across the floor.

Richard and Tera both left the cabin and continued down the dirt road. Tera talked to Richard to pass the time.

"When did you become a mercenary?" The Lucario asked.

"About 3, maybe 4 years ago." Richard said

"So you were about 21 or 22 when you became a mercenary?" The Lucario questioned.

"Yeah, around about that age." Richard told her.

"Did you like being a mercenary?"

"No." Richard replied sharply

"Why did you stay a mercenary then?" Tera asked with confusion.

"Because…" Richard thought about what he was going to say, would he tell her the truth and say he stayed on because he wanted to die? Because his life was worthless? He had to choose what to say.

"Because… do you remember when I told you about my friend? The one that died because I was too damn slow to react?" Richard's voice had both anger and sadness in it.

"Yes, I do." Tera replied.

"I stayed on so I could protect him." This was partly true, Carter was the most calm mercenary leader, all the others were savages and killed innocent civilians if they got in the way of the mission, but not Carter. Richard figured if he kept Carter alive then he could save lives that would be taken if the mission were carried out by one of the other merc leaders. But he mostly protected him because he became his friend over the years.

"You stayed on risking your own life to protect your friend?" Tera asked.

"Yes."

"Didn't you care about your own life?" Tera asked with a vague look of shock on her face.

Richard thought about his answer again and decided it was best to tell the truth, he decided to tell her why he didn't care about his life.

"No. I was brought up in an orphanage so I didn't know of any family, so nobody was going to miss me if I died. When I reached 18 I got mixed up in gangs, some of the members were talking about joining mercenary groups, but I didn't join. The next year fled the area after I killed most of the gang. I spent the next year traveling, surviving on whatever food I could find and sleeping in caves. Sometime later I knew that I wasn't going to last long living like that so I joined up with the mercenaries. On my first mission we were sent to take out a club owner in one of Johto's city's, Carter was leading the mission, the club had about fifteen big bodyguards all armed with pistols and machine guns. We were a team of eight, and only three of us got out alive. Carter saved me on that mission, I had ran out of bullets and it was only me and this big bouncer guy in the room. Carter was fighting some other guys somewhere in the club with Dwayne who also survived that night. Anyways the big bouncer guy charged at me and pinned me to the wall, I sent my foot right between his legs but that just made him more angry, he grabbed my head and slammed it against one of the tables, I was stunned and down on the ground. The bouncer then kicked me a few times in the stomach. The bouncer when off some where and I heard some glass breaking, I heard his foot steps coming towards me again but just as he reached me a gunshot went off and I heard his body hit the ground and before I knew it Carter was picking me up off the floor. I turned around and I saw the bouncer with a hole where his eye used to be and in his hand was a large broken vodka bottle. I owed Carter my life, so I promised to myself to always watch his back. Over the next few years we became like old war buddies, swapping stories, knocking back a few drinks, hell he even gave me a birthday gift."

Richard stopped his story to grab his knife.

"Stainless steel, his initials are engraved at the end of the handle. Carter Wilson was his full name."

"Why did you kill the gang members?" Tera asked, still confused and intrigued by his personal history.

"Because they kidnapped a small girl… she was only 6 years old, she was frightened and wouldn't stop crying. The leader tried to stop her from crying… by punching her. When I saw his fist raised against that little girl I lost control. I threw myself at him, pinned him on the ground and bashed his face in with my fist whilst slamming his head against the concrete floor. There was only me, the leader and one other gang member in that room, the other gang member tried punching and kicking me off him but I didn't move. I noticed that the leader had a pistol clipped to his belt so I grabbed that and shot the other gang member in the chest. The other gang members heard and came rushing in with weapons, mostly pipes, knives and wood pieces, thankfully there were enough bullets for all of them and I managed to get out of there alive. I dropped the girl off at the first police station I could find and ran off to flee the city."

Tera looked at Richard stunned, 'He's been through so much but only cares about others.' Tera thought to her self, she could see justice and determination in his aura and she admired him for it.

"Your a strong caring person Richard, don't think otherwise." She said to Richard hoping it would cheer him up.

Richard raised his head a little and said, "Thanks." before giving a little smile. Both Richard and Tera looked onwards and now began to see a town.


	5. Meeting people

Richard and Tera walked down the streets of the town, nothing special about it, some houses, fire station, police station, pokécenter, a couple of shops and a hotel.

5 minutes later and Richard was down to 25 pokédollars after renting the room for the night. This room didn't have a couch, just a double bed, a TV, a couple of old looking cheaply made drawers and a door leading to the bathroom. Both Richard and Tera collapsed on the double bed, Richard was aching all over from the sparing match combined with walking down the dirt road for a few hours. Richard began to feel selfish because he hadn't asked Tera if she was hurt after the match.

"Tera, you're not hurt are you?" Richard said, his voice showing concern for her.

"Just aching a little, I'm fine… But thanks for asking." Tera noticed the concern in his voice. It was nice to know she had someone that actually cared for her.

"Well it looks like we're going to have to share the bed, I'm sorry that we couldn't get a better room." Richard apologized.

"It's fine Richard, at least its better than sleeping outside or in that cabin." Tera said with a smile.

"You're right about that. I'm going to get myself washed up." Richard said as he made his way to the bathroom to wash the dirt left on him after their little sparing match.

By the time Richard had finished washing up Tera was already asleep. Her paws were twitching, Richard figured that she was having a dream. 'Aww, she's so cute.' Richard thought to himself as he pulled the covers over her shoulders and then slowly got into the bed so he didn't wake her.

Richard easily drifted of into a deep sleep. Richard used to have nightmares every night, those nightmares were usually old memories, people dying, getting slaughtered, but since he met Tera, he hasn't had one bad nightmare, so far.

Morning came, it was now somewhere near 11 o'clock and both Tera and Richard were now awake. Tera was in the shower and Richard was watching the TV flicking through channels again, as he did he spotted something, a Televised Pokemon battle. Richard hated Pokemon battles, he saw it as unnecessarily violent and it served no purpose except for human entertainment, he saw the Pokemon as slaves and their trainers as pathetic kids that wanted to feel powerful. He doubted very much that the trainers could handle themselves in a combat situation 'Anyone that cared for the Pokemon would not make them fight until either one is knocked out or killed.' Richard's angry voice said in his head. Richard saw a Blastoise and a Charizard getting into position, their trainers behind them with smug arrogant looks on their faces and decided that he had already seen enough. He switched the TV off and began to think about what his next move would be, he needed money, maybe there were some jobs around town or maybe somebody needs help with something. He decided he would figure it out once he had eaten something. Tera came out of the bathroom.

"Where are we going next?" the Lucario asked.

"I'm not sure, lets go get something to eat before we figure that one out." Richard answered while moving to the front door. Tera knew that he didn't plan ahead, but she trusted him.

Later that day, Tera and Richard were now in another cafe, the people around them looked like locals, some were wearing farming overalls and some in casual clothes but one person stood out the most among the people in that cafe, a man in a sheriffs uniform. He had blonde hair short at the back and sides, a little longer on top, around about the same height as Richard, he was wearing a green jacket with the word, 'Sheriff' written in yellow on the back of it and a badge pinned on the front right side, Green jeans and black boots, he looked like he was somewhere in his mid thirties. Richard noticed a few times he glanced over making him suspicious. Richard and Tera were now both eating a big steak, Richard had also bought some chocolate bars for the road ahead, he heard somewhere that a Lucario can eat chocolate, he wasn't sure if that was true but he guessed he was gonna find out. Richard and Tera had finished their food and Richard had payed their bill which left him with no money at all.

Tera and Richard were now walking down the streets, for Tera this was just a stroll but for Richard it was time to spend thinking about what to do next. Richard's thoughts were interrupted by someone shouting over in their direction.

"Hey, you two!"

Richard and Tera stopped and turned to look at who was calling out to them. It was a man, he had black long hair, looked to be in his 40's, he wore a white shirt and blue jeans. The man began running towards them, Richard and Tera glanced at each other as he did. The man finally reached them, he was out of breath and breathing in deeply despite the street he ran down not being to long.

"Is there something wrong?" Richard asked the man.

"Do… Don't suppose you two want to make a little money do ya?" the panting man asked the two now in front of him.

Richard couldn't believe his luck, but his mind turned to what he wanted in exchange for money. "That just depends on what your asking us to do." Richard replied sternly to the man.

"Well, something has been prowling around out side of my house, its been leaving scratch marks on my door and been making low growling sounds that's got both me and my little boy on edge. I just need you to find out what's behind it all." The man answered.

"Why did you ask us and not anybody else?" Richard asked with suspicion in his voice.

"Well everybody here is caught up in their own business and some wont do it because they are scared of what they might find. I asked you two because your not from around here so your probably not as busy as everybody around here and you both look like you can handle yourselves if you do come up against something nasty."

Richard took a moment to think about what he was asking of them, he needed the money but it was probably going to put him and more importantly Tera in danger too. He then turned to Tera.

"What do you want to do Tera?" Richard asked.

"We should help this man if it puts his mind and his child's to rest."

Selfless, another thing Richard admired about her. "Alright, we will help you." Richard answered.

"Fantastic! Come with me, I will show you my place." The man began to walk in the direction he came from with Richard and Tera following close behind. About 30 minutes had passed and they had now reached the man's cabin located on the outskirts of the town. Richard noticed scratch marks on the cabin's door.

"Well, here we are. Whatever it is that keeps skulking around here always comes when it starts to get dark so you could stay here till then… Oh, by the way my names Derick." the man said as he opened the cabin door. They all walked in to the cabin and there was a small boy, looked to be around 7 or 8 sitting on the couch that now looked over to the group that just walked in.

"And this is my boy, Chris."

The boy got up and walked over to his dad, his eyes going over the man and the Lucario that entered the cabin.

"Hello." the boy said with a shy tone to his voice.

Richard knelt down to the boy so he would seem less imposing. "Hi, my name's Richard, and this is my friend Tera" Richard said whilst pointing to the Lucario behind him.

"They're here to find out what's been sneaking around outside." Derick said to his little boy.

"But what if they get hurt?" Chris said obviously worried for Richard and Tera.

"Don't worry, we will be careful." Tera said hoping to calm the little one. The boy gave a smile and walked back to the couch to watch something on TV.

"If you manage to find out what's been sneaking around out there then I will pay you 100 pokédollars, another 100 if you manage to make it stop."

Both Richard and Tera quickly looked at each other as he finished his sentence.

"We will find out what it is but I cant promise to make it stop." Richard replied with a serious tone to his voice.

"That's fine. Your welcome to stay here till it gets dark, that's when it usually comes around."

_sometime later._

It had gotten dark and Richard and Tera were now lying on the ground, prone. They couldn't see much and they didn't want to talk to each other just in case they gave away their positions to whatever it was they were watching out for. Richard had taken his knife out of his boot just in case they had to fight anything. Tera had spotted movement by the bushes near the cabin, she tapped Richard on the shoulder and pointed towards the bush, Richard gave a nod in response. One more minute had passed and they could now see the the perpetrator, a cat like thing, around about 4 foot tall, white fur, red zigzagging pattern across its stomach, one red ear and red fur on its front paws. Richard examined it from a distance, he looked towards its paws and saw on both of them that it had two large claws. Tera knew this was a Zangoose, from the looks of things it was shivering and looked like it was trying to seek shelter, it didn't look like it meant harm.

Tera turned to Richard "It doesn't mean any harm, I will go talk to it."

Richard reached out for her and grabbed her by the shoulder "Wait, I'm coming with you." Tera nodded and they both got up and walked towards the Zangoose. The Zangoose's finely tuned ears picked up the sound of foot steps behind it and snapped around startled by the sight of a man and a Lucario standing behind it. The Zangoose backed into the wall of the cabin and began to snarl at the two of them, at first it thought the human was going to capture it but it saw no pokéballs. Richard and Tera stopped in their tracks.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." Richard said to the still snarling Zangoose. Richard figured that it either didn't understand him or it wont listen to him.

"Tera, can you talk to it?" Richard asked.

"I'll try." She responded.

A few minutes went by and Richard was still looking on, Tera had said nothing… Well, nothing that could be heard by Richard anyway and all he could hear from the Zangoose were faint growls and whines, he could have sworn that it had said it's own name a couple of times.

"She says that she was looking for shelter because she was freezing." Tera finally said, He didn't know how she could understand the Zangoose but he didn't want to ask to avoid a really long and possibly complex answer. Richard now had to decide what to do with the Zangoose, he wondered weather Derick would consider taking her in, if not then he didn't know what to do, he also wanted to know whether she was hostile but he thought Tera would be the best judge of that.

"Do you think she could be harmful to others?" Richard asked Tera.

"No, she only growled at us because she was startled and when I talk to her I don't sense any anger or hate in her voice."

Richard trusted Tera's judgment, he made his way over to the cabin door and knocked three times. Derick opened the door looking slightly cautious but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Richard standing there, unharmed.

"I found your problem." Richard pointed to the right of him which was out of Derick line of sight, he looked around the corner of his door and saw Richard's Lucario with a Zangoose. When Derick realized that he sent a man that looked like he was a soldier and a Lucario just to find a Zangoose at his cabin, he felt rather stupid but it did raise some questions in his mind.

"Do you know why it was scratching at my door?" Derick inquired.

"Tera tells me that she was looking for shelter because she was cold, I guess she was scratching at your door to get your attention so she could rest up in here. I… I don't suppose you would consider taking her in would you? " Richard asked.

Derick now looked slightly ashamed, he wanted to let her in but he couldn't trust a wild Zangoose around his little boy, so he gave his answer. "I'm sorry, I would take her in but… I just don't want to but my boy in any danger ya know?"

"I understand." Richard responded.

"Here's the money I owe ya." Derick handed over 200 pokedollers to Richard who gladly accepted. Derick then closed the door to his cabin with the look of shame still on his face. Richard headed over towards Tera and the Zangoose.

"Well, the good news is that we now have money but the bad news is that the Zangoose still has nowhere to stay." Richard said in a disappointed tone.

"What should we do? We cant just leave her to freeze out here." Tera looked very concerned for the Zangoose. Richard thought about it but he wasn't sure whether it was a good idea.

"Tera… Ask her if she wants to come with us, we will head back to the hotel, we have enough money to stay another night now." Tera knew Richard wouldn't just leave the Zangoose behind, he was too caring and kind to do that. Richard looked on as Tera asked her the question.

"... She said yes." Tera responded.


	6. Richard, The problem solver

Tera, Richard and the Zangoose had stepped into their hotel room. They got their rooms changed from when Richard and Tera stayed last night. This room had three single beds, a TV, a door to the bathroom, some drawers and closets and a window with a nice view of the forest. Richard took the bed closest to the window which was to the far right of the room, Tera took the one next to him and the Zangoose took the one next to Tera. Richard hadn't noticed before but his shirt and trousers were really dirty, he knew there wasn't much he could do about it apart from buying some more clothes but he didn't have that luxury, not if he wanted to stay in another hotel. Richard got up and headed for the shower, he was dirty after lying on the ground prone to wait for the Zangoose to show up. As Richard closed closed the door behind him, Tera and the Zangoose started talking.

"Who's the human? Is he your trainer?" The Zangoose asked.

"No, he's a friend." Tera told her.

"How long have you known him?" The Zangoose inquired.

"About 3 days now." Tera replied.

The Zangoose gave a puzzled look. "You've known him for 3 days and he's already your friend?"

"He's… a really nice guy. I can trust him." She said with confidence behind her words.

"Why?" The Zangoose responded.

"When he first met me his clan and his best friend had been killed just a few minutes before he met me but yet he tried to comfort me, my clan had been killed two days before I even met him. When I told him I didn't have anywhere to go he said that I could join him, so I did." Tera said.

The Zangoose was shocked that they had both lost their clan, it made her partly regret bringing up the subject, but she had to know more. "So, you joined him because he comforted you?"

"That was only one reason. I could see in his aura and in his eyes that he had been through so much pain, I could see his good nature, I could see his strong will, determination and courage he carried in his heart. I have never met anyone like him." Tera finished her sentence, she knew she thought of Richard as more than a friend, she was attracted to him.

The Zangoose noticed the affection in her voice but decided against asking her if she thought of him as more than a friend, but she wanted to know more about Richard and Tera. "How old are you two? And where do you come from?"

"I'm 24 and Richard is 25, I come from here and Richard comes from Johto." Tera stated.

"What did you two do in your clans before you met each other?" The Zangoose curiously questioned.

"I was a guard for my clan, Richard's clan was a band of mercenaries so he was a warrior."

The Zangoose was going to ask more questions but she realized that she must seem nosy. "I'm sorry if I'm asking too many questions, you can ask me something if you want." The Zangoose said in a cheery tone.

_Meanwhile._

Richard had gotten out of the shower and back into his dirty clothes. Richard took a moment too look at him self in the mirror, he noticed that the cut along his nose was healing over nicely and that stubble was now growing around his jaw. He quite liked it, gave him that bad ass look that he so desired. He took his eyes off the mirror and exited the bathroom. Tera saw Richard walking out of the bathroom and headed in their her self to wash the dirt off her fur. Richard sat down on his bed and looked out of the window, he could see nothing but the silhouettes of the trees in the forest and the mountains lit up by the moon in the background. Richard thought back to all the places he had been to as a mercenary, the missions always took place at night and every mission put them somewhere different, deserts, islands, snowy mountains, even cargo ships. All those missions seemed different from one another except for 3 things, Darkness, low survival odds and they were always outnumbered. Although Richard was deep into thought he could still feel someones eyes on him, he turned around and saw the Zangoose staring at him silently. He didn't know whether the Zangoose understood human language but he wanted to find out.

"Can you understand me?" Richard asked.

The Zangoose nodded forwards in response. Richard remembered that when he came into the room that Tera and the Zangoose were facing each other, he figured they were talking. "Are you getting along with Tera?" Richard asked the Zangoose

The Zangoose gave a smile and nodded forward again. Richard decided that was enough questions for today. The Zangoose watched as the human yawned and rested his head on the pillow. The Zangoose had heard stories about humans, nearly none of them good, most of the stories about humans involved capturing Pokemon, separating them from their clans and families and forcing them to fight other Pokemon but this human didn't seem like the ones in the stories, and from what she heard from Tera she would say that he's a good human. The Zangoose rested on the comfy bed, a nice change from sleeping on the grass in the forest every night, she fell asleep in seconds.

Richard was still awake, thinking, thinking if the mercenary group he worked for knew whether he was still alive, thinking if the rookies were still alive, thinking if now was his chance to escape from that life that he led for the past 3 years. Richard then began thinking about Tera, she followed him even though she knew he had no solid plan and right now she was the only thing that kept Richard moving, if he didn't meet her in that cave that night… He didn't know what he would do. He remembered all the emotions going through his mind when he entered that cave, pain, anger and fear was all he could feel at that moment, he had a thousand thoughts in his mind too, some suicidal thoughts. When he met Tera and saw her shivering, the pain in her bright red eyes, it reminded him of that little girl that he fought to protect six years ago, he wanted to protect her and tell her that everything is going to be alright, something that nobody did for Richard… except Carter. Richard thought back to the night Carter had saved him, after the mission he asked why he had saved him… Carter answered, "You're one of my men now, and I take care of my men." That was the first time in his life that someone actually seemed to even care that he was still breathing.

Tera closed the bathroom door behind her, she could see the Zangoose had fallen asleep and she could see Richard in his bed, shifting slightly. She could see Richard was troubled with something, she could see it in his aura. She went over to Richard and put her paw on his shoulder. "Is there something wrong Richard?"

Richard's mind snapped back to reality when he heard her voice, it made him remember that his life as a mercenary was over, and that made him happy. Richard turned to Tera and said "No, everything's fine… But thanks for asking." Richard smiled at the Lucario who showed concern for him, it made him feel needed, like he had a purpose. Tera smiled back at Richard and headed back to her bed.

Morning had come, Richard, Tera and the Zangoose were now at the cafe that Richard had saw the sheriff in the other day. Richard noticed some of the locals looking over, Richard guessed they were probably wondering how a human who isn't a trainer has two Pokemon following him. The bill came for the food again, Richard was down to 70 pokedollers. A few minutes later they were on the streets of the town again, Richard didn't know why but something inside him just told him that he had to stay in the town a little longer. They spent some time in the shops following Richard's lead, Richard didn't see anything of use in the shops, he was just killing time looking around and waiting for something that might not even happen. Tera noticed something out side the shops windows, it was a man in a sheriffs uniform looking around the street as if he had lost something or was looking for someone. The sheriff looked in the shop window to his right, quickly scanning it with his eyes and saw the man he was looking for. Tera noticed him looking at Richard as he quickly walked towards the shop door.

"Err, Richard. I think that man is looking for you." Tera said as she pointed over to the sheriff.

Richard turned around to see who Tera was talking about, when he saw the sheriff from the other day he wasn't sure what to think, part of him thought that the police had somehow connected Richard to the shoot out in the forest but he ignored that thought and just waited for the sheriff to reach him.

The sheriff was now in the shop with them, his eyes glanced over the Lucario and the Zangoose with him, this was defiantly the guy he was looking for. "You're the guy who helped Derick and his boy aren't you?"

When that question left the sheriff's mouth it put Richard at ease. "Yes I am, although I had a little help and it wasn't any trouble." Richard said whilst glancing towards Tera and the Zangoose.

"Good, in that case I need your help." The sheriff stated.

Richard was intrigued, why would the sheriff want the help of a stranger? And why does he need his help? "What with?" Richard replied sharply.

"With a dangerous convict, he was supposed to be transferred to one of the jails just out side of one of the city's days ago but that shoot out in the forest stopped that from happening. I need you to help me get him into the back of my car, even if hes handcuffed he could still do a lot of damage."

Richard had a lot of questions, he decided to go with the more important ones first. "Why are you asking me to do this?"

"You have a Lucario traveling with you, the Lucario place high values on justice, a Lucario probably wouldn't be following you if you were unjust. Of course I couldn't just judge you by your company so I didn't ask you back at the cafe. The next day, I heard about you helping Derick and his boy, most of the people around here were to afraid to help or pretended they were busy, I couldn't help because I had a shit load of paper work to do and I'm two deputies short. So in short, I'm asking you because you look like you can handle your self and you don't seem like the untrustworthy type so, will you help me?" The sheriff asked.

Although Richard had a lot of other questions he decided that it was best not to waste time and simply said, "Yes."

The sheriff had escorted Richard, Tera and the Zangoose to the police station and were standing in the reception area when the sheriff turned to face the group.

"Alright, My name is Ethan Cooper." The sheriff extended his right hand towards Richard who in turn shook it.

"My name is Richard, My Lucario friend is called Tera, I don't know what the Zangoose is called though." Richard said.

The sheriff looked over at the Zangoose, "Doesn't look wild to me." His voice said inside his head remembering the excuse Derick had gave.

"Well Richard, your friends are going to have to stay in the reception area." The sheriff then turned to face the Lucario and Zangoose. "If you need anything just call out for deputy Cleaves, he's usually doing nothing except for walking about the office in the room next to us now. " The sheriff pointed over to the door on the far left of the reception room, close to the counter where a person would normally be standing behind. The sheriff then turned to Richard "So, are you ready for this?"

"Yes." Richard replied quickly.

The sheriff smiled slightly. "Eager are we?"

"The faster we get this guy behind bars in a concrete fortress the better." Richard answered in a calm tone.

The sheriff's smile grew, he knew he had picked the right guy for the job. "Now that's what I like to hear! Come on, I will show you to the holding cells."

Richard followed the sheriff through the door to the far right of the reception room, he didn't know anything about the man that he was helping the sheriff with, but he knew that he would soon find out.


	7. The police station

Richard and Ethan the sheriff were now walking down a hallway to get down to the holding cells, Richard guessed now would be a good time to ask some questions about the convict. "So, what did this guy do to get convicted?"

Ethan stopped walking towards the holding cells to tell Richard everything he needs to know about the convict, and what to expect from him. "This guy is a sick freak. He come's from one of the cities here in Hoenn, he's a murderer. He's also the reason why I'm short of deputies, he pulled a blade out on one of them and he managed to slash at him multiple times. The Deputy is still alive but in a critical condition, I had to dismiss one of my other deputies because when he found out that the sicko had also managed to slash at his Absol he practically rushed towards the cells and gave him a beating that he wont be forgetting anytime soon."

Richard was not surprised by the deputies actions, if that sick freak had slashed at Tera, he would have killed him without thinking twice about it. Richard wanted to know that this guy was going to get what he deserved. "Whats his sentence?" Richard asked.

"Life time imprisonment in the worst hell hole known to man, surrounded by murderers, rapists, and other sickos."

Richard noticed the sheriff smile slightly when he said, 'Life time imprisonment.; They moved to the door at the end of the hallway and opened it, entering the holding cells.

Richard looked around his surroundings, green painted walls, black granite floor and four holding cells. Richard looked to the far holding cell, he saw the convict, he wasn't what he imagined. The convict had a bald head and a dirty blond goatee, he was wearing a black sleeveless shirt and black jeans, he was just as tall as Richard but skinnier.

Sheriff Ethan grabbed his hand cuffs and handed them over to Richard "Go inside his cell and get those cuffs on his hands, if he try's anything..." Ethan tapped the 9mm handgun in the holster around his hip. Richard nodded as Ethan opened up the cell door for him.

The convict looked over to see a man in a green shirt and combat trousers walking over to him with hand cuffs in his hand, he had a life imprisonment to serve and now was the only time in a couple of days that he saw that cell door open.

As Richard drew closer he noticed the bruising on his face, probably due to the deputy that decided to give him a beating, he also noticed the convict clenching his fists, Richard knew that he was going to do something and he had to be ready for it.

The convict stood up and waited for the soldier boy to get a little closer. Richard and the convict now stood inches apart and the convict made his move, he threw a punch aimed straight for the soldier boy's face but Richard had caught the convict's fist with his hand and in an instant Richard threw his own fist directly at the convicts face. It connected with his nose making a satisfying crunching sound as the cartilage in his nose broke. The force of the punch yanked the convict's head back into the concrete wall behind him. Richard watched as the convict flopped to the ground with a broken nose and a nasty bleeding gash on the back of his head.

Ethan rushed into the cell with his gun drawn at the convict, he stopped when he noticed that the convict wasn't moving and turned to Richard.

"Damn… knocked out with one punch. At least we don't have to worry about escorting him to my car with out him lashing out at us." Ethan said, he was impressed at how well Richard handled him against the crazy murderer.

Richard turned to Ethan. "Isn't anyone going to ask any questions over this?" Richard asked concerned that he might have landed himself or Ethan in trouble.

Ethan noticed the concern in his voice. "Let me worry about that. The scumbag got what he deserved." Ethan said as he looked down to the convict, he was disgusted to be in the same room as him.

Richard looked down at the convict, the back of his head was still pouring in blood. "That convict needs the back of his head stitching up."

Ethan wanted to just leave him to bleed, but decided Richard was right. Ethan sighed "Fine, I will get Cleaves to take a look at it then. Can you go find him? He's in the office." Richard nodded and headed for the office. Tera noticed Richard enter reception, her eyes were drawn to the blood on the knuckles of his right hand, she would have asked him what happened but he had already rushed into the office. Richard looked around the office and immediately spotted a man who he presumed was Cleaves, the man was shorter than Richard and had short messy brown hair.

"You're Cleaves right?" Richard shouted over to the man.

"Yeah, that's me. Something wrong?" The man responded.

"Ethan needs you to stitch up the convicts head."

The man gave a very puzzled look. "What? Your joking right?… aw, shit. Tell him I will be right there, I will go grab a med kit."

Richard headed back for the cells but was called over by Tera when he reached reception.

"Richard, whats going on and why do you have blood on your knuckles?" Tera asked with a look of worry on her face.

Richard could see the concern on her face, so he decided to tell her what happened to calm her down. "The convict that Ethan needed help with attacked me."

"Were you hurt?" Tera said very quickly.

Richard saw the concern in her face grow, but it was nice to be reminded that she cared. "No, I'm fine but the convict wasn't so lucky." Hearing Richard say this brought her relief, she should have known that Richard could take care of him self after the sparring match they had. "Anyway I have to get back to Ethan now, I will be back soon." Richard said whilst running for the door to the cells. Ethan's eyes went straight to Richard who had just entered the room.

"Did you find Cleaves?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, he said he's coming but he just needs to get a med kit." Richard responded.

The door to the holding cells slammed open which got the attention of both Richard and Ethan who turned to see Deputy Cleaves walk in with a med kit.

"Where's the sicko at!" Cleaves shouted.

"On the floor you idiot." Ethan answered.

Cleaves turned to see the convict face down on the floor with a nasty wound on the back of his head. "Shit, somebody did a number on him… ot that I'm complaining."

Ethan wanted the convict out of here. "Yeah, yeah just stitch him up so we can get him out of here will you."

Cleaves knelt down to examine the wound. "Well that's going to leave a scar. I wonder if this knocked some sense into his thick skull. Which one of you decided to knock him out?"

Richard stepped forward. "That would be me."

Cleaves looked at Richard and smiled at him. "Well in that case I like you already." Cleaves began looking through the med kit to find the needle he needed.

Ethan couldn't wait to get the scumbag out of his station. "How long do you think it will take to stitch him up?" Ethan asked Cleaves.

"About… Two minutes, probably." Cleaves answered as he held up and looked at a very sharp needle.

It was good enough for Ethan.

A couple of minutes passed and Cleaves had stitched him up. Cleaves backed up a bit to admire his work. "Not bad… Now if any of you guys need me I will just be washing the blood and bits of head off my hands" And having said that, Cleaves left the room. Now Richard and Ethan had to shift the convict to the back of Ethan's squad car. Richard Decided to carry the convict on his back and move him to Ethan's car, Ethan would open the door ways for him and the car door. Tera saw Richard carrying the convict, she saw the stitched up wound on the back of the convicts head, she knew that Richard really wasn't joking when he said that the convict 'wasn't so lucky.'

About 2 more minutes passed and Ethan now had the convict in the back of his squad car. Ethan was grateful for Richard's help, that's when an idea came to Ethan's mind. "Hey, I don't suppose your staying here are you?"

Richard Didn't know why he wanted to know so he just answered, "I might as well, I don't have anywhere else to go."

A smile formed on Ethan's face. "Good, drop by the station tomorrow, I have something that I want to discuss with you. Oh, by the way, take this. Consider it payment for a job well done." Ethan said as he handed Richard 400 pokedollers. That money could easily last Richard, Tera and the Zangoose at least 3 more days in this town. "Thank you Ethan."

"You deserve it Richard" Ethan then began driving off but not before he reminded him one more time to come to the station tomorrow.

Richard headed back into the station to find a sink to wash the blood off his knuckles, once he did that he headed over to reception. Richard headed over to Tera and the Zangoose, he was happy for two reasons now, the first being that they had the rest of the day to do anything they want and the second being that he doesn't have to worry about money whilst doing it. Richard asked what Tera and the Zangoose wanted to do, they talked and came up with an answer.

"Walk around the town." Tera answered for both herself and the Zangoose. Normally it wasn't something Richard would consider but he figured that it would take his mind off things. "Yeah, lets do that then." Richard said as he walked out of the police station, Tera and the Zangoose following closely behind him.


	8. There's a new deputy in town

It had been an hour since leaving the police station and Richard, Tera and the Zangoose were now sitting on a grassy hill just out side of the town. The view was amazing, from up there they could see just about everything surrounding the town. Richard was lying on the grass, resting. Tera and the Zangoose were tanking to each other, Richard was happy to see that they were becoming fast friends. Another hour passed and all three of them were walking around town, Richard had booked the hotel room that they stayed in the previous night whilst doing so. Another hour passed, the three of them were now walking around the stores in town, Richard figured now would be a good time to buy some new clothes. Another hour passed and Richard had found some clothes that suit him but he would have to wait to get back to the hotel to put them on. Tera turned to Richard. "Richard, what did you do for fun in your clan?"

He guessed that was what here and the Zangoose were talking about. "Well we played card games, black jack and poker mostly. After missions Carter would usually get us a big keg of beer then we played drinking games, I was always good at those." Richard chuckled to himself slightly. "When we weren't doing those things then we usually just waited for the next mission and relaxed as much as possible. The calm before the shit storm Carter called it."

Tera was a little confused "How can you relax while waiting for a mission that's likely to kill you?" Tera asked.

Richard glanced over to her "It's hard at first but if you live long enough then you get used to it. It's even easier to get used to if you don't care about dying."

Tera looked at Richard "And you didn't care about dying?"

"No. I would fight for my life but only to take down the person who's trying to kill me."

Tera was surprised by this, that's when she noticed something. She noticed that she saw a lot of emotions in Richards eyes and his aura, but she never saw fear in them. Tera went back to talking to the Zangoose besides her. Another hour passed and Richard, Tera and the Zangoose were now all hungry. Richard bought them all a big meal at the local restaurant which then left them with 300 pokedollers. 3 more hours of exploring the town had passed, Richard had noticed Tera yawn a little.

"Are you sleepy?" Richard asked, hoping to lie down on a nice warm bed right after taking a shower.

"Just a little." Another yawn escaped her before she could even finish her sentence which made Richard chuckle. "Come on, lets get back to the hotel." He said. Whilst walking back to the hotel Richard had noticed that it had gotten very cold, he then remembered that it was nearly winter.

Richard, Tera and the Zangoose reached the hotel room within a few minutes. Tera and the Zangoose headed over for the beds the slept in the previous night and pulled the covers over themselves to keep them warm.

Richard decided to go to wash him self before he went to bed, so he headed for the bathroom. As soon as the door to the bathroom closed, the Zangoose turned to talk to Tera. There was just one question that she wanted to ask but wasn't sure whether to ask it, she finally decided to ask it.

"Tera, I noticed that you and Richard are close but… do you like him as more than a friend?"

The question took Tera by surprise, she didn't think anybody would notice. She did care for Richard as more than a friend, she found everything about him so interesting. She admired his strong will, determination and strength. When he's around her, he makes her feel safe. Part of her just thinks that she's just attracted to him but deep inside of her she knew she felt something more for him, she loved him. Tera looked at the Zangoose and gave her response "... Yes, I do."

The Zangoose smiled "Does he know you like him like that?"

"I don't think he does." Tera sighed into her pillow.

The Zangoose thought that the human and the Lucario would make a great couple. "Do you think he likes you as more than a friend?" the Zangoose asked.

Tera really wasn't sure, she remembered the time when Richard stared at her when she first washed her fur in the shower but that wasn't really enough to say that he liked her in that way. "I'm not sure. What do you think?" Tera replied shyly.

The Zangoose's smile grew. "I think he does."

_meanwhile._

Richard had finished his shower and went to put his same old green shirt and combat trousers, he decided to wear those for the night and in the morning he would change into his new clothes. He went over to the bathroom sink and looked into the mirror just above it, he stared at him self in the mirror. Richard thought back to one of his missions and remembered slicing a man's neck with long sharp shard of a broken mirror and then using that same shard to look around a corner to spot hostiles. He thought about that moment untill he couldn't look at him self anymore, he knew he did what he had to but he also knew that there was always a better way. Richard left the bathroom, walked over to his bed and lay down on it. He had been walking all around town for a good couple of hours, so he enjoyed the feeling of the soft bed all the more.

Tera had stopped talking to the Zangoose right after Richard walked into the room, she knew that he couldn't hear what they were saying but she still didn't feel like talking.

_1 hour later._

Richard looked around him, he was near the cave where he first met Tera. He had no idea how he got there but didn't have much time to think about it as he saw Tera walking towards him.

"Tera, how did we get here?" Richard confusedly asked.

Tera said nothing, she only drew closer to Richard, she had a smile on her face. Richard was confused as hell. "Tera… can you hear me?"

Again, nothing. Tera and Richard were now inches apart.

"Tera, please… What's goi-" Richard was cut off by Tera who pushed her lips to Richard's lips. Richard didn't resist, he didn't want to. He gently placed his hands around her hips, enjoying the kiss, enjoying how right it felt, he never wanted it to end.

A loud gunshot sounded behind Richard, he spun around and saw the sick fucker that killed Carter. He had a hunting rifle and by the looks of things his guts were still inside him. Richard reached for the knife in his boot but found nothing, he saw the fucker's rifle aiming at Tera. He had already taken his best and only friend away from him and he wasn't about to let him take away the only person he loves. Richard positioned himself between Tera and the man, he closed his eyes and waited for the bullet to come… But it never came.

Richard slowly opened his eyes and saw the ceiling of the hotel room. It was just a dream. Richard slowly raised him self and soon sat upright in his bed, he rubbed his eyes and looked over to Tera's bed. She was in it, safe and sleeping. Richard looked at her, she was the most beautiful thing that Richard had seen in his life, that's when he knew that he was more than attracted to her… He loves her.

Richard began to slowly lower himself back onto the bed and closed his eyes to try and get back to sleep, but he had a lot to think about.

It was now 11 o'clock in the morning and they were now all awake. Richard was now in his new clothes, a black shirt with a gold eagle on the front of it and combat trousers much like the ones he had already but without the mud stains. Richard had decided to take them all to the cafe again, it seemed like they were becoming regulars at that place. Tera, Richard and the Zangoose were all eating, Richard thought back to when Tera asked what he did for fun when he was a mercenary and realized that he didn't ask what she did for fun.

"Tera, what did you do for fun back in your clan?" Richard inquired.

Tera raised her head and said, "Well sparring matches were usually organized for fun, I also liked swimming."

Richard was a very good swimmer but he just couldn't hold his breath underwater. Tera looked at Richard. "Can you swim?" She asked.

"Yes, very well in fact." He replied.

"Can we swim together?" Tera asked.

Richard smiled and said, "I don't see why not."

Tera smiled back at Richard. A few minutes later they had all finished their food and payed the bill. Richard now headed over to the police station after remembering Ethan asking him to drop by. Richard entered the reception room of the police station and saw Ethan sitting behind the front desk.

Ethan stood up after seeing Richard enter. "Ah, there you are. I'm glad you could make it." Ethan said whilst moving around the side of the desk to approach Richard. "Richard, would you like to become my deputy?" Ethan said, wasting no time.

Richard was surprised, he thought that being a deputy took some kind of really long study process or something. Richard seriously thought about it before giving his answer, in the end the pro's outweighed the con's so he said, "Yes, I would."

Ethan smiled "Great, but you are going to have to see Cleaves for a medical examination and after that you will have to run our assault course."

Richard smiled, it sounded too easy to him. "That's fine, I can do that."

Ethan didn't doubt him.

_1 hour later._

Richard had been examined by Cleaves and was given the OK to run the course. Ethan, Tera and the Zangoose were amazed by the speed at which he sprinted through the course, every obstacle in his way he passed with no trouble. Richard walked over to the group, panting,

"So … how did I do?" Richard asked, still breathing in deeply.

"Well you broke something that belonged to me, a record. You passed in 1 minute 3 seconds." Ethan replied.

Richard smiled "What's next then?" He asked.

"I make you a deputy." Ethan said.

Richard just stood there and smiled. First he was a gang member, then a mercenary and now he's going to become a deputy. Richard looked at Tera who was clearly happy for him… 'Maybe being a deputy wouldn't be so bad.' Richard thought to himself.

"So, are you ready to make it official?" Ethan asked Richard.

The more he thought about becoming a deputy, the more he wanted to do it. Richard replied with a simple, "Yes."


	9. Passing the time

20 minutes had passed and in that time Richard had signed some documents needed in order to make his becoming a deputy official. Ethan had shown him to his locker with his uniform inside it. The uniform was different from Ethan's and much like Cleaves', the uniform comprised of a light green shirt with badge on the front of it, a black tie which Richard wasn't too keen on, dark green trousers and boots much like the ones Richard was already wearing.

"You can start tomorrow, Cleaves and I will show you the ropes." Ethan said.

"Thanks." Richard was now a deputy.

"Hey, I noticed that you and your friends were sleeping in the hotel. If you want you could stay the night over at my place." Ethan said, hoping to get to know more about his new deputy.

"Yeah, the hotel was beginning to be a drain on my wallet anyway." Richard responded with a smile.

"Good, I will meet you back at reception at nine then. Is that good for you?" Ethan asked.

"Yes, meet you at nine then." Richard headed back for reception, Tera and the Zangoose were waiting for him there. Tera and the Zangoose were talking when Richard arrived, Tera stood up and asked him a question. "Richard, are you the deputy now?"

Richard smiled. "Yes, Ethan and Cleaves will be showing me what to do tomorrow."

Tera smiled at Richard, she knew he would make a great deputy. "What are we going to do now then?" Tera asked.

"Well we will be coming back here to the station at nine so I guess we can do anything we want till then." Richard told her.

Tera looked at Richard with a quizzical look, Richard recognized that look and decided to tell her before she asks. "Ethan has offered to let us stay over at his place tonight. Anyway, what do you two want to do now?"

Tera and the Zangoose talked for a short while before coming up with an answer. "Let's spar!"

Richard looked over to the Zangoose. "Will the Zangoose be sparring with us?" Richard said, hoping the answer was no after taking another look at the Zangoose's claws. "No, she will be watching us." Tera quickly responded. Richard was glad to say the least that the Zangoose was only watching, those claws looked like they could slice his chest open with little effort. "Okay, but we will have to find somewhere open and out of the way of other people." Richard said.

10 minutes had passed and they had found a good, empty spot. The only things around them were trees, The Zangoose was sat down by one of them. Richard and Tera got into position, 2 meters apart and facing each other. They were both ready to fight but they both knew that neither of them were looking to do any real damage. Richard's gray-blue eyes locked on to Tera's Crimson eyes, reading them, watching for movement. Tera took two steps fowards, Richard did the same bringing them almost close enough to touch each other. Richard made the first move by trying to kick Tera in the stomach, but she managed to jump back in time. Richard waited for her counter attack but it didn't come. Their eyes were still locked onto each other. Richard threw another punch but it hit nothing but air as Tera ducked and kicked Richard in his stomach with her powerful legs, he stumbled back but stayed on his feet. Tera threw a straight punch to Richard's chest which made contact, she threw another punch this time aimed at his stomach but Richard grabbed her arm and stopped that from happening, Richard then sent his leg into her stomach which forced her to the ground. She quickly recovered and stood up, going back to watching Richard's movements. Richard quickly stepped forward and threw a punch, Tera ducked and rolled behind Richard, he spun around in time to see her throwing another punch, Richard thought fast and caught her paw in his hand as he threw his fist into the left side of her chest, careful to miss the solid spike in the middle. Both Richard and Tera backed away from each other. Tera moved in closer to Richard, he kicked forward at Tera but she ducked and took out his leg with her own, Richard fell on his back. He noticed that Tera was still heading towards him so he swiped at her with his leg whilst still on the ground, this made Tera jump back and gave Richard enough time to roll backwards and get back onto his feet.

Richard noticed Tera was looking a little tired and he didn't want to risk hurting her. "Want to call it a draw again Tera?"

Tera didn't want to stop just yet but she wanted to give Richard and herself small break. "Sure." Tera said in a nice cheery tone. Richard smiled at her and asked what the Zangoose and Tera would like to do next, Tera answered for the both of them again. "Let's look around the forest some more." Richard thought that sounded quite relaxing.

_2 hours later._

Richard was sat by a river, just watching the water flow over the rocks. Tera and The Zangoose were close by, talking to each other. Another hour passed, Richard had fallen asleep by a tree near the river. Tera and the Zangoose saw him sleeping, Tera smiled. "Aw, cute." She said whilst crouching next to him. She placed a paw on his shoulder and shook him slightly. Richard's eyes slowly opened, he saw Tera with her paw on his shoulder. He looked up to the sky and saw it was beginning to get dark, it always gets darker sooner near winter. Richard stood up and headed back to town with Tera and the Zangoose following him. A few minutes later and they were already in the town and eating at the local restaurant they ate at last night. An hour passed as they were eating and drinking, Richard payed the bill and left. As the group walked out side they felt the cold air hit them harshly, Tera and the Zangoose started shivering despite having quite thick fur. Tera noticed that Richard didn't seem to be cold even though he was wearing a short sleeved shirt. Tera wondered if it was down to his training as a mercenary, or maybe where he came from was colder, Tera wanted to know but there was a more important question to ask him.

"Richard, where are we going now?" Tera asked.

"Well we still have a few hours to kill, maybe I will just head back to the police station. Cleaves seems like the kind of guy that knows whats going on around town." Richard responded, heading towards the station.

The group were now in the reception room of the police station, there was no one behind the front desk. "Cleaves?" Richard called out.

"In here!" the voice called out from the office, Richard entered the room and saw Cleaves working on a computer with a Pokemon besides him, it kind of looked like a cat, its body was black, it had gold ring patterns on both its fore and back legs, gold stripes could also be seen on its long ears and tail, there was one gold ring pattern on its head as well.

Cleaves spun around in his chair to see it was Richard "Oh, your back. Is this a friendly visit or do you need me to stitch up somebody's head again?" Cleaves said sarcastically.

"Who's your friend?" Richard asked whilst pointing to the Pokemon besides Cleaves.

"My little friend here is my Umbreon, his name is Stripes, he's also my backup." Cleaves responded.

Richard was slightly confused. "So… they gave you a Pokemon as backup?"

"Only if you put in a request, but I didn't request little Stripes here, I already had him when I became a deputy." Cleaves explained. "But I don't think you came down here to talk about Stripes did you?"

"No, I just wanted to ask, what is there to do in this town?" Richard said.

Cleaves remembered that Richard was new to the town. "Well its a small town, so there's not much to do around here, when I get bored I usually just head over to the shooting range on the other side of this building."

Richard wasn't really surprised that there wasn't much to do, the town looked like the quiet and peaceful sort. He knew he was probably not going to get anything useful out of Cleaves "Alright then, sorry for interrupting… whatever it was you were doing." Richard said.

"Bye." Cleaves said as he left the room.

Richard made his way over to Tera and the Zangoose. "Well, it sounds like there's nothing to do around town. Don't suppose you two have any ideas on how to pass the time do you?" Richard asked.

Tera turned to the Zangoose again, she then turned to Richard to give him their answer "Nope." Richard was expecting a completely different answer. Richard tried thinking of something to do around this town… That's when he remembered what Cleaves said about the shooting range. "Cleaves!" Richard called out. Cleaves heard him calling and quickly minimized the picture of a naked woman on his computer and headed over to reception to see why he was calling, Stripes followed closely behind. "Yes, what is it now?" Cleaves said sounding tired. "I bet I'm a better shot than you are." Richard declared.

Cleaves didn't know where this came from but he sensed a chance to make a little money. "Is this a challenge? If it is I only play for money."

Richard had a smile on his face "How does 50 pokedollers sound to you?"

"Sounds like its mine." Cleaves said with confidence in his voice.

Richard looked at his smug face, he was going to enjoy taking his money. "Lets get to the range then!" Richard said with enthusiasm.

Richard and Cleaves were standing next to each other, Tera, the Zangoose and Stripes were watching the two humans. Cleaves quickly began explaining the rules "OK, now you will start off with a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, the clip contains six bullets for six targets. The targets will be shaped like humans, a head shot gets you two points, body shot gets you one point. There is also a civilian target in there that will pop up to trick you, its colored differently from the rest and if you hit it you loose three points. The targets randomly pop up so you wont be able to predict where the targets pop up from and they only stay in their place for two seconds, after that they will just go back into their slots. I think that's everything you need to know so, who do you want to go first? Me or you?" Cleaves asked.

"I will." Richard answered.

"OK, step behind the yellow line and get ready." Cleaves headed over to the wall behind him and hit a green button which then triggered the targets.

The first target popped up on the wall just left of Richard, he pulled off an easy head shot, second one flipped on the wall to the right of him, another head shot. The civilian target popped up in the center, Richard took aim but paused after seeing it wasn't like the others, that pause almost made Richard miss the target that popped up to the right, he didn't have time to aim for the head so he just aimed for the body and shot, it hit. Targets five and six popped up at the same time but they were close to each other, he managed to aim and hit both of their heads. Cleaves was impressed, but he wanted to keep his money.

"Nine points, good job." Cleaves said calmly as he took the gun from Richard and loaded 5 more bullets into its clip. He took his position and looked at Richard "Push that green button over there." Cleaves pointed over to the button he pressed for Richard when he began shooting the targets. He pressed it and Cleaves shot his first target, head shot. Another popped up in the center, another head shot. The next target came from the left of the room, another head shot. The civilian target popped up from the right, Cleaves shot at it but he managed to miss it by centimeters. Two targets popped up again, next to each other like in Richard's round, he shot the one to the right and quickly shot at the second target, his bullet missed the second target and hit the wall behind it. "...Shit." Cleaves said quietly to himself, he had lost.

Richard saw the look of defeat on his face, it made him want to smile but he kept a straight face. Cleaves walked over to Richard to give him 50 pokedollers "Nice shooting." Cleaves said calmly, trying to hide his disappointment.

"Thanks." Richard replied. Cleaves and Stripes headed back to the office, Richard, Tera and the Zangoose headed over to reception to wait for Ethan to show up. Richard, Tera and the Zangoose talked until he arrived.

Ethan walked through the front door and saw the group sitting on one of the couches in reception. "Oh, there you are. Come on, I will take you to my place in my squad car." Ethan said whilst waving his hand towards the door. Richard, Tera and the Zangoose got up and headed outside to Ethan's car, they didn't know what his place looked like but they just hoped it was better than the hotel.


	10. Nightmares

They were now at Ethan's place, Richard, Tera and the Zangoose were all pleasantly surprised to see that it was big, really big. Ethan unlocked the front door and the group walked in. Ethan looked at their faces, and smiled when they started looking around, obviously surprised by the size of his house.

"I inherited this place from my uncle, it's a little too big for me though. This is the living room, there's a fire place in the corner and a nice big TV, the kitchen is to the right of us near the stairs. There are 4 bedrooms upstairs so everybody has a place to sleep and at the end of the hallway up the stairs is the bathroom." Ethan said. "I will show you your rooms now." Ethan then led them upstairs.

The rooms they were given were nearly identical, queen sized bed, a window with a nice view, cabinets and bedside tables. Tera and the Zangoose decided to sleep in the beds as soon as they were shown them, Richard was still wide awake, probably because of the nap he took by the river. Ethan asked him if he would like to watch some TV and drink a few beers, Richard said "sure" and walked down stairs with Ethan.

1 hour passed and Richard was sitting on the couch with Ethan while drinking a nice cold beer, they were watching a horror movie about a soldier that wakes up in a mental hospital controlled by cannibals. Ethan decided to get a conversation started. "So, are you from around here?"

Richard wondered why everybody asked him that. "No, I'm from Johto."

"What was Johto like?"

"Big, dark and full of people I hate."

Ethan sensed a story behind Richard's comment. "Want to talk about it?"

Richard didn't mind talking about it but he didn't think his story would go down so well with the law. "Nah, its long and complicated."

Ethan wondered why he didn't want to talk about it but when he remembered when he did to the convict he could only guess that it wasn't pretty, he decided to go into a different line of questioning. "How did you meet that Lucario?"

"Tera? Oh, I met her in a cave." Richard said casually.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "A cave?"

"Yeah, I was already in the cave when Tera came along. We were both trying to stay out of the rain." Richard said.

"Why did she tag along with you?" Ethan thought out loud.

Richard decided to only tell him the basics. "Well I had nowhere to go and neither did she, I guess she just followed me because she felt she could trust me."

Ethan knew there was something more to it, there had to be but he decided to leave it at that. Richard could see that Ethan was trying to get him to open up a little, he decided to ask him a few questions. "How long have you been the sheriff?"

"About 4 years." Ethan answered.

Richard suddenly realized that he didn't know how old he was. "How old are you?"

"I'm 37, what about you?" Ethan asked.

"I'm 25, 26 in 3 more days." Richard said. He began to look slightly depressed about something but Ethan didn't know if it was a good idea to ask him whats wrong.

"Is there something wrong?" Ethan asked.

Richard raised his head. "Its just… my friend died recently, we planned on going on holiday for my birthday. He said he knew some islands where 'the locals are friendly and the drinks keep coming'. I looked forward it but that's not going to happen now. To be honest, I think Tera is the only thing that keeps me going."

Ethan didn't expect him to open up that much, although he wanted to know more about what he meant by Tera being the only thing that keeps him going. "What do you mean?"

Richard looked back to Ethan, there was a short pause before Richard answered him. "When my friend died… I just didn't feel like living anymore. When Tera came with me I just felt responsible for her, I saw part of myself in her, and now she trusts me, I just can't let her down now, she's been through too much."

Ethan saw he was serious, he also saw that he cared a lot for Tera. He really didn't know what to say, so they just sat there and watched the rest of the movie. 2 hours had passed and they had began watching another movie, some action war type movie, the mood had lightened up more and they soon began talking again. Ethan was talking about how somethings in the movie wouldn't happen in real life and Richard was just generally agreeing with him.

_1 hour later_.

The movie had finished, Richard got up off the couch, said good night to Ethan who was still watching stuff on the TV and headed to his room. He walked down the call way but stopped near Tera's door, he could her something, it sounded like like faint shouts. Richard opened her door and saw Tera in her bed, shifting about slightly and mumbling something. Richard knew what was happening, she was having a nightmare. Richard slowly walked over to her and shook her by the shoulder, she didn't wake, he tried again but this time whispering, "Wake up." into her pointy ear. She jumped slightly in her bed and woke up with a worried look on her face, but the look disappeared when she saw Richard next to her.

"Its okay, you were just having a nightmare." Richard said in an attempt to calm her.

Tera now looked slightly embarrassed, she thought that she must look weak to be afraid of her own imagination. "I'm sorry." Tera said.

Richard didn't understand. "What for?"

"For being afraid of my dreams." Tera answered.

Richard still didn't quite understand, he thought that it must just be a Lucario thing. "You have nothing to be sorry for, I used to be afraid as well. I had terrible night terrors when I fell asleep before and after missions."

Tera was surprised, she never thought that he would be afraid of his dreams like she was. "Do you still have night terrors?"

"Sometimes, but I'm not afraid anymore."

Hearing Richard say this made Tera feel safe, but she wanted to know how to be strong like him. "How did you stop being afraid of your dreams?"

Richard learned to stop being afraid by not caring if he lived or died and realizing that the true horror is in the real world, but he didn't want to tell Tera this, he wanted to calm her. "I don't know, but whenever those night terrors were about missions, I always thought back to the one mission that always made me feel better about myself and what I was doing."

Tera was curious, she wanted to know more. "Can you tell me about it?"

Richard gave her a smile, it was nice to know that she was so interested in him. "I'll tell you about it tomorrow, get some sleep now." Richard was about to leave but Tera called him back.

"Wait, can you stay with me?"

Richard turned to face her, the nightmare must have frightened her. "Yeah, what was your dream about anyway?"

Tera wondered is she should tell him all of it or just part of it. "... It was about you, I was running, getting chased by these big dark things. When I found you and you saw me, you ran away."

Richard was surprised to hear that she dreamed about him. "Tera, you don't have to be afraid. I would never leave you like that, ever. I promise I will always protect you."

Tera felt safe and protected around Richard after hearing that. "So will you stay with me tonight?"

Richard didn't even have to think about his answer. "Yes, I will." Richard crawled into the bed with her, Richard felt something when he was close to her, a sense of security, safety, something he never felt before in his life.

Morning came, Ethan was getting ready, dressing back into his Sheriffs uniform. He then walked up stairs and knocked twice on Richard's door. "Richard, its time to get to work." There was no reply. He knocked twice again. "Richard, are you in there?" again, no reply. Ethan opened the door to Richard's room and saw nothing, Ethan noticed that Richard's bed didn't look like that it had been slept in.

Richard awoke next to Tera, she was now awake as well. "Tera, I have to go. I think I can hear Ethan calling me."

Tera didn't want him to go, but she knew he had to. "Richard… Could I come with you?"

Richard was glad that she wanted to come with him, he didn't want to leave her behind. "Yeah, I don't see why not." he said with a smile. Richard and Tera got up from the bed and left the room, Tera and Richard both saw Ethan who was just stood outside of Richard's room. Ethan saw Richard and Tera, he didn't know why Richard was in there but he didn't really care. "Ah, there you are. Come on, we have a job to do."

"Tera is coming with us." Richard said.

Ethan looked at the two of them, he was one deputy short and they look like they could be formidable together. "That's fine, but what about the Zangoose?"

Tera looked at Ethan. "I will tell her we will be gone for a while, she could wait here for us."

"Okay, I will be on the couch downstairs when your ready to leave." Ethan said.

_3 hours later._

Richard was in Ethan's squad car in his new deputy uniform, Tera was sitting next to him in the back. The day was generally uneventful, Richard didn't expect there to be much trouble in this town anyway.

_2 hours later._

Richard and Tera were sat in the office part of the police station, Cleaves and Ethan set out to buy supplies some supplies, Richard didn't ask what they were getting or why they were getting it. Tera remembered last night, when Richard said there was one mission that made him feel better. "Can you tell me about that mission now?" Tera asked.

Richard knew what she was talking about. Richard got ready to tell her about possibly the biggest mission that he had been on, and one of the bloodiest.


	11. Bloodstained snow

_2 years earlier._

Richard looked around the snow covered terrain that surrounded him, nearly everything he could see was snow. With his all white combat clothing he was almost invisible, even his MP5 submachine gun was covered in white cloth. Richard turned to see 19 other men wearing the same outfit but with different things covering their faces like white masks, white scarfs and bandanas, even white face paint. This mission was big, they were led in teams of 10, Carter was leading his team and a mercenary leader that he had never seen before was leading the other. They all had different weapons, some had hunting rifles and sniper rifles, others had assault rifles and shotguns, he even saw one man with what looked like a grenade launcher, those were extremely hard to find. The group of men gathered around to hear what their leaders had to say, the man he never saw before started things off.

"Men, we have to take out a man named Karlo." The man took out a picture and held it up to show the group. The picture of Karlo shown him with short gelled black hair, a mustache and a rather sinister look on his face, he looked to be somewhere in his late twenties. "He is a slaver, sells both Pokemon and humans. He has around about 30 to 40 men under his command." The man added. Carter stepped forward "We know that there are two buildings just over that hill, one of them is their barracks and the other we are not quite sure of but I'm guessing that's where the slaves are." Richard's ears perked up, he had to get to that building before anyone was killed, he didn't want the slaves to get slaughtered just for the sake of the mission. "Carter, send me to the slave building." as Richard said this the entire group looked at him. Carter knew that even if he ordered him not to go he still would, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying to talk him out of it. "Richard that's suicide, 40 men, do you think you could take out 40 men?" Richard looked hurt, but that look soon disappear from his face when he came up with an answer. "There's only one way to find out." Richard responded, the leader of the other group smiled although it wasn't visible through his white mask. "I like this guy, let him give it a shot. If he fails then we simply roll in and take them out as planned." The man said. "I will go with Richard." said a man that he never seen before. Carter sighed "Fine, you can go with him." The unnamed man stood next to Richard to form their own little infiltration group. "Alright, we move up and split into 2 fire teams, don't let any hostiles survive." Carter said in a very serious tone. The group moved up, splitting into teams of two while moving to the hills, Richard and the unnamed man followed Carter's group so they knew which building is the slave building. They had reached the top of the hill and saw a building to the left and another to the right. "The building to the right are where I think they are keeping the slaves." carter said whilst pointing to the largest building, the men all looked at a small group of people near the slave building, they all took out either binoculars or scopes to see what was going on. Richard saw the target Karlo among the group, he also saw a kid in his teens, a Charmander, and 6 armed guards around them. Karlo was dressed in a white tuxedo, an weird thing to be wearing in a place that is below freezing point. He saw Karlo take out a large hand gun, a desert eagle, he pointed it at the Charmander's head and pulled the trigger. It's brains splattered on the snow leaving a huge red mark, the kid ran at Karlo but he just aimed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger, the impact took quarter of the kid's head off. Richard felt a burning hatred for Karlo, he needed to get to that place fast before anymore slaves die.

Karlo looked at the dead bodies in front and behind him, he crouched over the body of the teenager. "You really shouldn't have tried to hit me, boy." he said coldly. He slowly stood up and looked to one of his men who seemed to be staring at a hill. "What the fuck are you looking at?" Karlo shouted, the man simply pointed to the hill. Karlo looked to where he was pointing and saw something moving.

Carter lowered his binoculars "Shit, they've seen spotted us. Take em out now!"

Karlo raised his gun while also running for the slave building, he shot off 5 very inaccurate shots towards the hill. His men did the same and fired at the hill with AK 47 and M16 assault rifles. A hail of gunfire came from Carter's and the other leader's Fire teams, the bullets struck Karlo's men, shredding and tearing them. A small army came out of both buildings and fired on Carter's position, pinning them down for a short while. Carter looked around to find a way out of the situation, he looked to one of his men holding a grenade launcher. "What are you waiting for? Shoot them!" Carter shouted. The man with the grenade launcher stayed in cover, aimed upwards and fired. The grenade arched over the hill and landed in between 3 men, blowing one man's legs off and knocking out the other 2. The blast made Karlo's men scatter and gave Carter's team time to line up a few shots. Richard and his team mate had already headed down the hill and hidden behind the slave building, they were hoping to find some kind of back entrance but they had no such luck. Richard looked around the side of the building, all he could see was blood, explosions and men in the distance firing in all directions. All he could hear was gunshots, men shouting and more loud explosions. Richard turned to his team mate and told him to follow him, Richard then sprinted around the side of the building with his gun drawn ready to fire at anyone he comes across. He turned a corner and saw the front door to the entrance, bullets hit the wall next to him as he began to sprint to the front door, he finally reached it and forced the door open by pushing down its handle and forcing his shoulder into it. He threw himself into the building closely followed by his limping team mate, Richard closed the door behind him. They were now in a concrete hallway, Richard looked to his team mate who was leaning against a wall and clutching his left thigh with one hand and holding his shotgun in the other, he could see blood flowing from his thigh and slowly dripping off his white combat trousers and onto the floor.

"Your hit, stay here and guard the door. I will find the slaves." Richard said to the injured man. The man replied with a simple nod and Richard cautiously walked down the hall way. The hallway was long and dark, it split into two directions at the end, Richard stopped half way down the hall when he heard a faint growling noise. Richard aimed his gun down the hallway and lowered himself onto one knee. He could see a shadow of a dog like creature with horns on the right side of the hall, Richard knew almost instantly that this was a Houndoom, Richard readied himself for what was to come. The dark doberman-like Houndoom jumped from around its corner and let loose a flamethrower-like attack on Richard who narrowly dodged it by throwing himself into the other side of the hall way, he could feel the heat on his face. Richard quickly struck back by immediately firing into the source of the flame, the Houndoom's head. It's flame died out quickly as it fell to the ground with 6 bullets in its head.

"Richard, are you alright back there." the injured man called out. Richard pushed himself off the concrete floor before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine." Richard shouted back.

Richard began walking down the hall again, he thought about who the Houndoom belonged to. He figured it belonged to Karlo, it would match his personality. He reached the end of the hall, he now had to choose to go left or right, He chose right and continued down that hall until he reached the door. The door was metal and had a small circular window to look in, like port holes on a ship. He looked into the window and saw metallic tables and chairs, it looked like a mess hall, he could see there was another door in the room as well. He quickly pushed open the door and quickly turned right and left to make sure no one was right besides the door. He made his way over to the second door, as he did he noticed an empty desert eagle on one of the tables, it was the same gun Karlo used. Richard then looked into the window of the second room, it looked like a kitchen, black and white tiled floor, a counter on the right side of the room that had dirty dishes and plates on it, another larger counter in the center of the room with cutting board's, knives and meat cleavers on it. Richard quickly entered the room, he quickly looked to the right, he felt something hard strike him on the back of his head, he dropped his gun and stumbled over to the counter to the right of him. Richard turned to see Karlo with a frying pan in his hand. Karlo raised his hand to give Richard another smack with the frying pan but Richard quickly grabbed him by the wrist to stop him, Karlo then wrapped his other hand around Richard's neck, he then dropped the frying pan and did the same with the other hand. Richard's hands wrapped around his, trying to save himself from strangulation, he soon realized that it was hopeless so he used one hand to search around the counter behind him, his vision was getting blurry, his hand felt something, it was a plate, he grabbed it and quickly smashed it across Karlo's head. Karlo's grip weakened but not enough for Richard to pry his hands off his neck, he reached over in the same direction and quickly found another plate and smashed it across Karlo's head again. As Richard managed to pry his hands off him he also gave Karlo a good solid punch to the jaw and kick to the stomach which made Karlo stumble into the counter in the center of the room. Karlo was pissed and began shouting at Richard "YOU FU-" he was cut off by Richard who gave him an uppercut to the jaw which made Karlo bite off the front part of his tongue. Blood began pouring out of Karlo's mouth, Richard then punched him with a right hook, Karlo fell to the ground but but stopped him self by placing his hands in front of him. Richard wasn't done with him, he grabbed Karlo by the hair and forced his knee into his face before slamming his head off the center counter. Karlo was barely conscious, Richard grabbed the meat cleaver from the center counter and made his way over to the bruised and bloodied Karlo. Richard raised the meat cleaver in his hand, Karlo raised his own hand in an attempt to defend himself. Richard brought down the cleaver onto Karlo's hand which split it in two right down to the wrist. Karlo screamed out in pain but was silenced by Richard who then brought down the cleaver onto his head, Richard felt and heard the blade pass through his skull with a loud crack.

Richard left the blade in Karlo's skull and backed away from his body. He reached for the back of his head and felt something warm, he then looked at his hand and saw it was blood, the strike from the frying pan must have opened up a cut or a wound on the back of his head. Richard then began looking for his gun, he found it by the door he came in. He walked back to the hallway when he saw there were no doors in the kitchen, he saw his team mate down the end of the hall, still watching the front door, he also noticed that he could hear the war zone outside. He then walked up the hallway he didn't look in. There was another door, same type as the others, he looked through the window and saw cages with both Pokemon and humans all cramped in together, there was also a door at the end of that room. He slowly opened the door and saw there were no guards in the room. The slaves eyes went over the man who had just entered the room, carrying a submachine gun, wearing all white combat gear with a white scarf around the lower part of his face and a white bandana on his head, covered in blood and looking around at everything cautiously. Some of the Pokemon went insane and started growling and shouting. "Stay quiet." Richard said, urging them to just shut up. He then heard some shuffling coming from the door at the end of the room, he quickly rushed over to the side of the door and waited to attack whoever it was.

"What the fuck did I tell you? one of you is going to get a beating." a rough voice said.

The door Richard was standing by opened and a man headed over to one of the cages, he clearly did not notice Richard. The man was a little larger than Richard, he was bald, dark skinned, shirtless and wearing dirty dark blue trousers with keys clipped to his black leather belt.

The man knelt down to look at a small Pokemon. "I've always wanted to beat the shit out of one of you."

Richard shot the man in the knee, he dropped to the ground, clutching his wound. Richard then went to finish the job by kicking him in the ribs and stamping on his head over, and over, and over again. Richard looked at the man underneath his boot, he wasn't sure if he was dead or unconscious. He grabbed the keys from his belt and ran over to one of the cages.

"Your helping us?" the question came from a young looking boy inside the cage.

"Yes, but you probably shouldn't head out too soon, there's a small war going on outside." Richard answered.

"Thank you." the boy smiled. Richard felt a sense of accomplishment as he unlocked the cage and let out about 20 different Pokemon and 3 humans. He then headed over to the other 2 cages and unlocked those. The Pokemon and humans all stumbled out and looked at their unlikely hero.

Carter had put down the last hostile with a head shot, there was only 2 other people with him, an unnamed sniper and the guy with the grenade launcher. He walked over to the slave building, it's door opened and Carter and the rest of the team got into position. Carter saw two men, It was Richard and the other guy that got sent with him.

"Richard, where's Karlo? He wasn't among the bodies out here." Carter said.

"He's dead, I killed him myself. How big is the boat that's coming to pick us up?" Richard asked. Carter was a little confused. "It's big, why?"

"Because there's going to be about 70 people that need to get to safety, if they stay here most of them will freeze to death." Richard answered.

Carter realized that he was talking about the slaves, he didn't actually think they would still be alive. "They can come but we are dropping them off at Kanto." Carter said. Richard smiled, he had saved a lot of Pokemon and humans while taking out an evil slave trading man. This was the one mission he could say that he was proud to be a part of.

_Present day._

Richard had left out all the gory details from his story, he didn't want Tera to know the true horror and brutality of his missions.

Tera knew it must have been a horrible mission but she knew why that mission made him feel better. "You saved a lot of lives, without you they might have died."

Richard knew that but hearing it coming from Tera just made it seem better.


	12. Too many questions

Richard and Tera spent the rest of the day patrolling the streets with Ethan and meeting some of the locals, most of whom seemed friendly enough. Ethan told Richard and Tera that they could stay over at his place till they could get a house of their own. They headed back to Ethan's place, Richard and Tera were on the couch watching some TV, Ethan was in the kitchen cooking, and the Zangoose helping him with the cooking. Ethan was surprised at how useful the Zangoose was around the kitchen, it made him wonder if she had lived with humans before. Richard and Tera were still talking and watching TV when Ethan and the Zangoose walked in carrying plates of food.

"Here you both go." Ethan handed the plates over to Richard and Tera.

"Thanks." Richard and Tera both said at the same time.

Ethan just nodded to them and took one of the plates the Zangoose was carrying. "Thanks for helping." Ethan said to the Zangoose who then gave him a smile. Ethan and the Zangoose sat on the couch opposite of Tera and Richard. "So what do you think of the town Richard?" Ethan asked.

"It's quiet and peaceful, the kind of place that I always wanted to live in." Richard said.

"I'm glad you like it around here, it can get a little rough sometimes." Ethan stated.

"Don't worry, I know I can handle it." Richard said with confidence in his voice.

After seeing what Richard did to the convict and hearing about his shooting skills from Cleaves, Ethan knew that he could.

The day seemed to fly by for Richard, when they finished their food Ethan and the Zangoose took the plates back to the kitchen to wash them. Richard felt comfortable, he was glad to see that Ethan and the Zangoose were getting along so well.

As the sun set, Richard and Tera were sitting on the couch watching another horror movie. Tera jumped at some parts of the movie but felt silly after remembering that it wasn't real just like her dreams, she cuddled up to Richard for protection. Richard felt Tera pressing against him, he looked to his side and saw her cuddling up to him. He didn't say anything, he just watched the film and enjoyed the feeling of being close to Tera while it lasted.

The movie ended, that's when Tera noticed that she had been holding on to Richard's arm. "Oh, sorry." The embarrassed Lucario apologized.

Richard smiled at her. "It's fine, I didn't mind it."

The Lucario blushed slightly although it wasn't visible to Richard. "I… I'm going to get some sleep."

"Yeah, me too… hey, where's Ethan and the Zangoose?" Richard asked.

Tera hadn't noticed before but she hadn't seen them for a few hours now. "I'm not sure."

Richard looked around and tried to listen out for noises but couldn't hear or see them. "Never mind, I'm sure they will turn up in the morning."

Richard and Tera walked to their rooms, Richard said something to Tera before she went to bed. "Remember Tera, you don't have to be afraid."

Tera smiled at Richard and went into her room, closing the door behind her. Richard entered his room and threw himself onto the bed and closed his eyes.

_30 minutes later._

Richard was still awake, there was just too much on his mind, too many questions. 'Am I really in love with Tera? Does she feel the same way about me? Will anybody come looking for me when they know I'm not dead? Will I put Tera in danger?' The last question that was voiced in his mind hurt him the most, if he got Tera hurt when he said he would protect her, he would never be able to look at himself without feeling guilty, he would never forgive himself. It wasn't just negative things on his mind, he wondered if he could live his entire life in this town with Tera, happily, and forget about his old life. Richard didn't care that she was a Lucario, he knew that there was a lot of places that welcomed Pokemon and human relationships but was this place one of them? "There's just too many fucking questions." Richard angrily whispered to himself. Richard lay on the bed while looking out of the window, he closed his eyes and finally fell asleep.

It was morning and Richard woke up to the sound of somebody knocking on the door.

"Richard, are you awake?"

It was Ethan, Richard quickly got up and answered the door. "Time for work again?" Richard asked.

"Yep." Ethan answered.

Richard remembered that Tera would want to come along with him. "Hang on, I'll go get Tera."

"Alright, you know where to find me when your ready." Ethan said while walking over to the stairs.

After a few minutes Tera and Richard walked downstairs. Richard saw Ethan and the Zangoose sat on the couch and remembered that they weren't in the house last night. "Where did the two of you go to last night?"

Ethan remembered that he didn't tell Richard or Tera where he, and the Zangoose went to. "We both went to the shop back in town to get some more food."

Richard was more than a little confused. "But it was night when you two weren't around."

Although Ethan didn't enjoy being questioned it was nice to know that the simple things didn't escape Richard. "The shop is open at night, we really only went there because we were bored. Anyway, are you both ready for work now?"

Richard thought there was more to it but quickly put that thought out of his mind when he remembered the stuff he used to to when he was bored. "Yeah, lets go."

Richard and Tera got into the back of Ethan's car again only this time the Zangoose was sitting with Ethan on the passenger side. The day went by relatively slowly, patrolling the streets again and back to the station. Richard and Tera were waiting in the office again, Cleaves was in the room and silently tapping away at his keyboard, the Zangoose went with Ethan to find somebody, he didn't say who. Tera and Richard were talking when Ethan and the Zangoose entered the room with someone following closely behind them.

"Richard, this is Mac." Ethan said as he pointed to the man behind him.

The man was a little shorter than Richard, he had very short black hair, brown eyes, dark skin, he looked to be somewhere in his early thirties, he was wearing a gray shirt with short sleeves and light blue jeans that were worn around the knees and were stained with different paints. The man stepped forward and said, "Nice to meet you, Ethan has told me a lot about all of you."

Richard looked at Mac, judging from his clothes, Richard guessed he was either a builder or a engineer of some kind. "It's nice to meet you too, what do you do around here then?" Richard inquired.

"I'm just kinda the town's handy man. When stuff gets broken, I fix it. In my spare time I usually just sit down and make stuff, and that's why I'm here." Mac got out a tailor tape measure. "May I just take some of your measurements?"

Richard was a little hesitant with his answer. "Er, sure."

Mac measured around Richard's waist and also around his shoulders. Mac then turned to Tera. "May I also take your measurements?"

Tera was less hesitant with her answer. "Yes."

Mac did the same as he did with Richard, except Mac also included the measurement of Tera's chest spike.

"Why are you taking our measurements anyway?" Richard asked.

Mac turned to him and with a grin, winked, and said, "You'll see."

The rest of the day passed by and Richard soon found himself back on the couch with Tera, Talking. No matter how long or boring the day was Richard always found talking to Tera enjoyable.

"What do you want to do now Tera? Spar?" Richard asked.

"Yes!" She said with excitement in her voice.

Ethan was upstairs getting dressed into a blue long sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans, when he was dressed he headed downstairs. When he got there he saw that Richard and Tera weren't there, he saw the Zangoose exiting the kitchen.

"Hey, you haven't seen Richard and Tera have you?" Ethan asked.

The Zangoose responded by slightly shaking her head left and right.

"Ah, never mind… Wait. Did you just hear that?" Ethan thought he heard somebody grunting, it sounded like it came from outside. Ethan went outside but saw nothing, he heard something again, it sounded like someone grunting in pain and it sounded like it was coming from around the side of the house. Ethan quickly ran over to the side of the house and looked around the corner, what he saw shocked him slightly.

Tera quickly punched Richard twice to his ribs and jumped back, Richard held his ribs for a second and quickly raised his arms again when he saw Tera try to kick him, he quickly grabbed her leg and sent his leg into her stomach, she dropped to the ground. Richard walked over to Tera and held out his hand for her, Tera placed her paw in his hand and he pulled her off the ground.

"Good match Tera, I think this means we're tied again." Richard said.

Tera smiled "You just got lucky."

Richard let out a little chuckle. "Whatever makes you feel better."

Ethan stepped out into the open and asked, "Is this what the two of you do for fun?"

Richard and Tera spun around to see Ethan. Richard wondered how long he had been there. "Yeah, but we make sure we don't hurt each other too badly." Richard said.

Ethan knew that Richard wouldn't seriously injure Tera, Ethan saw her as Richard's best friend. "I don't mind it, but I must ask one question."

"And whats that?" Richard asked.

"Where did you learn to fight?" Ethan questioned.

Richard smiled. "I learned to fight mostly from other people, some I can't even remember the names of, but Carter was the one who taught me the most. Were you looking for us?"

Ethan quickly remembered why he was seeking them out. "Oh yeah, remember Mac? I found out why he was taking your measurements."

Richard was intrigued. "Do tell."

"I know this is going to sound strange but… hes working on bullet proof vests for all of us."

Richard and Tera were surprised. Richard thought that Mac must be more than just a simple handyman. "Can he really make them?"

"I don't know but everything that he's worked on before has either came out as good as new or better." Ethan said. "Anyway, I will leave you two alone now."

Richard turned to Tera. "I'm gonna get back to watching some TV, you coming?"

"Sure." Tera said.

The rest of the day went by quickly, it soon became night and Richard was back in his room, alone. Richard had thought about telling Tera about how he felt about her, but he felt like it was too soon, he didn't want to risk their friendship. Richard let out a sigh as he took off his shirt, there was some bruising on his body from the sparring match with Tera but it didn't bother him too much. He lay on the bed and stared out of the same window as he did last night. It felt too familiar to Richard, it all felt too… normal.


	13. Police station party

Two days passed, Richard was now sitting in the police station office alone. Richard was getting used to living like a normal person, getting up for work, chatting to friends, finishing work, watching TV then back to bed. Richard found it incredibly boring, but every time he looked to see Tera at his side, it always just seemed to make the day seem brighter and less repetitive. Today was Richard's birthday, and Cleaves, Stripes, Tera and Ethan were not in the police station. Richard knew they were planning something for him. Richard sat down to a computer which Mac setup for him, he typed in the search bar 'Hoenn shootout' and hit enter, a lot of results came up but Richard clicked the one titled 'forest shootout carried out by mercenaries on killers'. A video popped up, it was a male news reporter a cottage in the background and a lot of police swarming around the place. The video loaded up and the reporter began talking.

"Just 24 hours ago, this was the scene of a massive fire fight between mercenaries and a family of killers. The total body count so far is 81, 21 of whom were the family, 5 others were mercenaries and the rest consisted of innocent people and law enforcers who the family had killed and then buried around the cottage, an estimated 1200 shots were fired. Police have released no information as to what company or group the mercenaries belong to or what the killers intentions were."

Richard stopped the video to think about what he just heard. "Five mercenaries..." Richard muttered to himself. That meant that the rookies had been killed and the police found Carter's body. Richard heard something coming from reception, he guessed that it was Cleaves, he always hangs about the station. Richard shut down his computer and entered reception, he couldn't believe what he saw next.

"SURPRISE!" Everybody called out. Richard looked around, he could see everybody he recognized around the town, Tera, Ethan, the Zangoose, Cleaves, Stripes, Mac, Derick and his boy Chris were all there. The reception room now had a table with loads of different drinks, foods and a big chocolate cake, there was a banner on the right wall saying, 'Happy 26th birthday'. Richard was stunned, he was in the town for a couple of days and they are already making a big deal of his birthday, he guessed he must have left one hell of a first impression. "I… just… thank you all!" Richard had a big smile on his face, he couldn't remember anybody setting up something like this for him, he never had a birthday party before. A few minutes passed and everybody began talking to each other, Richard was talking to Mac.

"How's the bullet proof vests coming along?" Richard asked.

"Very nicely, it's a lot easier than I expected." Mac replied.

"Where do you get the materials to make them?"

"My old buddies still send me stuff they collect on their travels."

Richard was a little confused. "Your buddies can find that kind of stuff?"

"You'd be surprised." Mac said in a sly tone.

"What made you want to make bullet proof vests for us?"

"Well after the attack on the deputy and the Absol, it made me realize that the deputies and sheriff need protecting too. Besides, I have a lot of spare time." Mac explained.

"This town is very lucky to have somebody like you around." Richard said cheerfully.

"That's what I said about you to Ethan when he told me about how you handled that scumbag convict. Anyway, I see a drink over there with my name on it, see ya later." Mac said as he walked over to the drinks table.

Richard saw Derick and his boy walking towards him, Chris spoke first. "Are you the deputy now?" the boy said shyly.

Richard thought it was a rather silly question to ask when he's dressed in his uniform, Richard knelt down. "Yes I am." Richard said in a calming tone.

"That's good, I know your a good guy." Chris said, his voice began to loose its shy tone.

Richard smiled, he felt good being called the 'good guy'. "Thanks, I'm sure that one day you will become the deputy too."

Chris' face lit up. "Really? But I'm not really strong."

"You don't need to be, you just need to know the difference between right and wrong." Richard said in a reassuring tone.

Chris turned to his dad. "Can I be the deputy when I grow up?"

Derick liked the thought of his boy becoming a deputy, it made him slightly proud. "Of course, you can son."

The boy jumped with excitement slightly, it made both Richard and Derick smile. "Thanks for coming." Richard said to Derick.

"Well it was the least I could do after you helped us and the Zangoose, speaking of which, is she going to become a deputy too?" Derick asked.

"I'm not sure, I haven't heard any news of her becoming a deputy but Ethan seems to like having her around."

Derick looked over to Ethan, he saw the Zangoose by his side. "Huh, I think they would make a good team."

"That's what me and Tera thought." Richard said with a smile.

Derick then remembered what he wanted to talk about. "How are you and Tera doing anyway?"

"Oh, we're both doing fine. I don't think either of us thought we would be living in a small peaceful town like this, I know I didn't." Richard thought about some of the missions he had been on, he remembered smearing himself with blood and mud to strike fear within his opponents in one mission, that was only one month ago.

"I'm glad you like it here." Derick stated.

Chris began tugging on Derick's shirt. "Dad, can we go talk to the Zangoose?"

Derick smiled. "Sure. You'll have to excuse us Richard, my boy is really interested in learning about different Pokemon."

"Bye Derick."

"Bye." Derick said as he was led towards the Zangoose.

Richard looked over to see Cleaves and Stripes coming towards him.

"Hey birthday boy! Want a rematch?" Cleaves said quickly.

"Are you still only playing for money?" Richard asked with a smirk.

"No, no, no, no, no! Just a simple rematch, no money involved." Cleaves quickly responded.

Richard smiled, he thought back to when he saw Cleaves' smug face, he guessed he wanted to regain his honor. "Sure, lets go!"

A few minutes later and Richard was once again looking at the smug expression on Cleaves' face, he had won… but only because Richard wanted him to. "Well, your the winner this time Cleaves."

"Yep but you were damn good yourself." Cleaves said as he patted Richard on the back.

"Thanks, lets get back to the party." Richard said while walking to the door, Cleaves and Stripes following closely behind.

Richard walked in to the reception room and saw Tera running up to him.

"Richard! I got you something." She happily told him.

Richard could see she was holding something in between her paws. "Really? What is it?"

Richard held out his hands and Tera dropped a watch into them. Richard was speechless for a second, it wasn't just a watch, it was a tactical watch. He remembered telling Tera about one of his missions, someone shot the tactical watch on his wrist using a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, the metal that the tactical watch was made from was strong enough to stop the bullet from penetrating the skin, although it still hurt like hell. The fact that she even remembered was enough to make him smile. "Thank you so much."

Tera looked at his face, she had never seen him so happy before. "I'm glad you like it."

Richard wore his new watch, after getting a gift like this he thought that he had better ask when Tera's birthday is so he could get her something special. "When's your birthday Tera?"

"In 2 days." Tera told him.

"Really? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Probably the same reason why you didn't tell anyone but Ethan."

Richard didn't tell anyone else because he didn't think they would care, he could see why Tera would think the same. "Well, I promise to make your party even bigger then." Richard told her..

"No thanks, I don't really like parties. Lets just keep this between you and me." Tera said to him with a smile on her face.

Richard could kind of understand, the mountains were isolated and the clan couldn't have been very big, throwing a party would probably be too much of a drain on resources, maybe they just didn't have parties, or maybe she didn't want the attention. "Alright then, I promise I'll get you something nice."

Tera smiled ever so slightly and said, "Thanks."

The sun slowly crept down and it soon became night, everybody was now leaving the police station and heading for their homes, Richard and Tera were once again sitting in the back of Ethan's squad car with the Zangoose upfront.

"Did you like the party?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, I've never had anything like it before." Richard answered.

"Really? You have never had a birthday party before?" Ethen questioned in a clearly surprised tone.

"No, Either nobody cared or I was too busy with other things." Richard told him.

Ethan knew that Richard had a sketchy past, he decided on not asking why he was too busy or why nobody cared. "Well we care."

Those simple words hit Richard, he had spent all his life around people who didn't even care that he was still alive, excluding Carter, and now he was in a town where just about everybody liked him, and sitting in a car with people who he now considers his best friends.

"I'm glad I met you all." Richard said sincerely.

Tera looked around to Richard. "I'm glad I met you all too."

"Me too." Ethan said.

The Zangoose gave out a faint whine which Richard guessed was a, "Me too."

They had arrived at Ethan's place again, Richard and Tera sat on the couch and watched TV again, there wasn't much on but they didn't really care. Ethan and the Zangoose had decided to go to sleep early. Richard was skipping through the channels but found nothing but trash, he gave up on finding anything good and began talking to Tera. "Are you still having nightmares?"

"Not anymore." She said with a smile.

"Good, I'm gonna go to bed now, I think I might have had too many drinks at the party." Richard got up.

"I'm going to go to bed too." She said as she followed Richard.

Richard liked how Tera followed him around everywhere, he was nearly never alone now. Richard had reached his room, he saw Tera entering her room and closing the door behind her, Richard entered his room and closed the door behind him. He walked over to the bed and threw himself on it. He looked over to the same window that he always looked at when he falls asleep, he didn't know why he always looks at it but he guessed it was just because it was the most interesting thing in the room. He still asked himself some questions, but at least there were less to ask now. He looked at the watch on his wrist and smiled before he closed his eyes and drifted into a deep sleep.


	14. The blizzard

2 days later.

Richard and Tera had been paid for their work and Richard had already gotten a gift for her. They were sat in the police station again, Richard wanted to wait until they got back to Ethan's place but he just felt like he had to give her the gift now. "Happy birthday Tera!" Richard exclaimed, while taking out a long slim rectangular black box out of his pocket and opened it.

Tera gasped as she saw the silver necklace inside it, the silver chain held a tiny silver sword that had a small diamond embedded into its handle. "Richard, this is… I love it, thank you."

"I told you I would get you something nice." Richard said with a grin. He felt something warm inside, almost like it was pleasant. He had never felt this before but he had an idea of what it was.

Tera gently hugged Richard, careful not to hurt him with her chest spike. "Thank you Richard." She repeated.

Richard started to blush for the first time in his life, it embarrassed him but he didn't show it. "You're welcome, shall I help you put it on?"

"Yes please." She responded.

Richard undid the hook that held the silver chain together and gently placed the necklace around Tera's neck and hooked the chain together again, Tera turned to face Richard. "It looks even better on you." He said.

Tera had a big smile on her face. "Come on, we still have a job to do." She said, happiness filled her voice.

"Alright." Richard said as he gathered his equipment, his radio and his pistol. He still always kept his combat knife with him, old habits die hard. She skipped away, in a happy beat. Richard chuckled at her child-like skip.

Richard's and Tera's shift finished once again and they soon found themselves back on the couch. Ethan and the Zangoose were busy preparing food, Richard and Tera both joked about how Ethan and the Zangoose seem to be becoming 5 star chefs.

"Tera, how did you get me the watch?" Richard said after remembering they had only just been paid the day before.

"Ethan lent me the money when I told him I wanted to get you something." She said.

"Ethan is a good man." Richard stated. Ethan didn't know much about Richard, Tera or the Zangoose yet he was always polite and took them into his own house.

"So are you." Tera responded

Richard looked into Tera's eyes; he could see that she wasn't just saying it to make him feel good. "Do you think so?" he asked

"Yes, you help nearly everyone you meet, you're kind and caring. You're just too hard on yourself." She said with a smile.

Richard knew that everything she said was true, she wouldn't lie. There was a second delay before he gave a response, "You're right… thank you."

Tera simply smiled and said, "You're welcome."

Time passed quickly, the sun went down and the moon rose. Richard was still on the couch with Tera, watching another movie. Tera rested her head on Richard's chest, she was sleepy but didn't want to go to bed, and she wanted to stay with Richard. He liked it when Tera got this close, it made him feel safe and forget about all the questions that he usually asked himself.

7 hours later.

Richard's eyes slowly opened, Tera was slumped over next to him, her head now on his lap. Richard heard footsteps coming down the stairs; he looked over to see Ethan who was now dressed in his uniform, and the Zangoose. "Time for work?" Richard said quietly.

"Yeah, but we have time before the shift starts." Ethan said as he slowly made his way to the kitchen, the Zangoose followed closely behind.

Tera's eyes fluttered open and looked up to see Richard. He looked down and said quietly, "Oh, you're awake."

She sat upright and let out a big yawn. "Is it time for work?" She asked.

"Almost, did you sleep well?" Richard responded with a second question.

Tera smiled, she was glad that Richard had stayed with her last night. "Yes, and you?"

"Yes, very well." Richard said.

Ethan and the Zangoose hurried out of the kitchen. "Alright, we better go now." Ethan said as moved to the front door. The day went normally, get to work, patrol the streets, back to the station, talk, rematch with Cleaves, back to the house, talk, and then go to sleep.

It sounded boring and it was, but Richard liked it, he liked knowing that he doesn't have to go fight a fight that isn't his own, he liked knowing that he that he doesn't have to see dozens of young people throw their lives away on some pointless mission, but most of all, he liked knowing that Tera was always there for him.

2 weeks later.

Richard, Tera, Cleaves, Stripes, Ethan and the Zangoose were now standing in Mac's workshop. His workshop was well lit by both 2 windows and 4 big long florescent lights on the ceiling; there was a workbench with lots of tools scattered around on one side of the room and a big table with some big white sheet covering it.

Mac was now standing in front of the group with a huge grin on his face. "Well… I've finally finished them." He said as he quickly threw the white sheet covering the table behind him to one side. On the table lay 6 black bullet proof vests of different shapes and sizes. Mac began handing them out and they quickly put them on. Richard had put his vest on; it looked like Ethan's and Cleaves' vest except with some minor alterations. Tera's vest had a hole in the middle of it which was for her chest spike. Stripes' body armor looked like the same kind that the police use on some of their canine units. The Zangoose's body armor was similar to Richard's apart from some height alterations.

"Why did you make body armor for the Zangoose?" Ethan asked.

"I wasn't sure if the Zangoose was becoming a deputy so I made her vest too." Mac admitted. "Anyway, I hope you like them." Mac moved over to his workbench, they didn't know if he was working on something but he looked busy.

They were all once again back in station; Richard was sitting on the edge of a desk whilst talking to Tera. "So, what do you think of these then?"

"The vests? Well I don't feel much safer but it keeps me a little warmer." Tera responded.

Richard noticed that she gets cold fairly easily, something he didn't expect from somebody that lived in the mountains. "Maybe we should just ask him to make sweaters next time."

Tera giggled a little. "That would be nice actually; I heard its going to snow soon."

"Yeah, I heard that too. Apparently it's going to be like a blizzard or something."

Tera shivered just thinking about it. "I'm not going to be looking forward to patrolling the streets when it comes."

"Me neither, but we still got to do it. Come on, those streets aren't going to keep themselves safe." Richard said as he pushed himself off the desk.

"Right behind you." Tera said as she walked through the front door with Richard.

2 weeks later.

It had been snowing hard for nearly 9 days, temperatures plummeted to record lows, luckily this was one of the few days that it wasn't snowing but there was still 8 inches of snow on the ground.

Richard and Tera were outside on the streets again, Tera was wearing her bullet proof vest as well as Richard's new brown leather jacket and his woodland camouflage scarf to keep her warm. Richard could see that she was still shivering. "You should head back to the station; I'll patrol the rest of the streets." Richard said out of concern for Tera.

"N-no, I'll be fine." She said, shivering and hugging herself.

Richard knew that he wouldn't be able to change her mind but he tried anyway. "Are you sure?"

"Y-y-yes." She stuttered.

"Okay then, but as soon as we get back to Ethan's, we're going to get a nice warm fire going and your going to sit next to it."

To Tera, that sounded like paradise compared to the frozen hell they were walking about now. "Thank y-you."

Tera and Richard both stopped in their tracks when they heard somebody calling them.

"Hey you! Cops! Over here!" Someone said. Richard looked over his shoulder.

They both looked down the street to see three men, two of them were standing near the end of the road in plain sight,1 man was standing behind them, next to a tree, watching. This brought back bad memories for Richard, being in a gang, other gangs sometimes set up ambushes for a member of another gang and approached them much like how the three men were set up at the end of the street.

Richard could tell they were up to no good by their clothes, stance, the way they muttered to each other and how they looked at them. The man standing to the right was about average in terms of height and weight; he was wearing a black sweat shirt as was the man standing next to him. The other man was skinnier and about the same height as the other man.

He looked over to the man behind the two other men, he was wearing a long brown coat, he looked a little older than the two other men and had black combed back hair, he was most likely their leader.

"Tera, these men might try to attack us, stay sharp." Richard said quietly. Tera didn't need to be told this; she could see that these men were planning to do something bad. She feared not only for her life, but for some reason she feared for Richard's life.

Richard stepped forward. "Yeah, what's wrong?" Richard said, trying his best to sound unsuspecting.

"Our cars broke down and we were hoping that you could take a look at it." The skinnier man asked.

There was a car nearby, but he knew it didn't belong to them. He noticed a few things about them. One of which, they had dirty faces and looked like he could barely afford food, let alone a car.

"Hang on, I'll take a look." Richard turned to Tera and quietly whispered "Stay sharp." Richard and Tera slowly walked up to the two men; she kept a keen eye on every person.

Richard could see one of them was very slowly reaching behind him as the came closer. "They've got weapons." Richard quietly whispered. Tera's heart was racing, she knew something bad was going to happen, and she was going to have to be ready for it.

Richard was calm, but he still hid a little bit of fear within him, not fear for his life, but fear that Tera may get hurt, or worse. They were close to the men, that's when it happened. The man closest to Richard quickly took out a switch blade and swung for Richard with it. He, fortunately, foresaw this.

The man was too wide with his swing; Richard quickly grabbed the man's fore arm to stop the blade in mid swing. Richard quickly threw a hard punch to the side of the man's head and brought his arm back to bash him in the face with his elbow followed by an open handed slam to the nose. The man didn't know what hit him, he was in a daze, and Richard could see this and decided to take advantage of it. Richard violently brought his leg up and struck the man in the genitals with his boot. The man lurched forward in pain, one hand holding his testicles and the other still holding on to the knife but unable to use it due to Richard's powerful grip on his fore arm. Richard used both hands to twist the knife wielding man's arm into an awkward position, he heard the shoulder dislocating with a crunchy pop and the man shouted in pain as he dropped the knife.

Richard gave the man one final punch to the side of his head and he flopped down to the snow covered ground. Richard span around, just in time to see Tera take a swipe at the other man's leg with the spike on the back of her wrist, he dropped to the ground and held the big bleeding wound caused by the Lucario's spike.

Richard picked the knife up, just in case the man attempted to try anything else stupid, like his last stunt, even trying to hurt him.

Richard looked to right of him, he saw one other man looking at Tera and reaching into his coat for something, he wasn't sure of it but he had a good idea of what he was searching for.

Tera knew that the man on the floor was no longer a threat, not with that gaping wound on his thigh anyway. Tera looked up and gasped, she saw the man in the coat raising a handgun and aiming it directly at her head, she thought she was going to die.

Suddenly, Richard jumped straight in front of Tera. She closed her eyes, mostly in fear of death, or worse, Richard's death.

Richard had already drawn his gun and quickly pointed the gun towards the man. It felt too familiar to Richard, it felt just like that nightmare he had the night after they found the Zangoose, but, only this time, he could fight back.

They both pulled their triggers. Tera's heart skipped a beat when she heard the gunshots. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the result.


	15. I love you

Richard let out a small growl of pain as he clutched the right side of his chest, the man that shot him fell backwards and lay in the snow, motionless.

"Richard! Are you hurt!" Tera said frantically.

"I'm fine, are you okay?" Richard responded

"... Yes." Tera's eyes sparkled, she was holding back the tears, she thought she had lost him.

"Tera… are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine… I just… I thought y-you-" Tera just couldn't finish her sentence, but Richard still knew what she was trying to say. "It's fine now, we're both safe." Richard said to comfort her as he grabbed his radio. "Ethan, get to Weller street, a group of men just tried to kill me and Tera."

A voice crackled into the radio, Ethan's voice. "I'll be right there." Another voice crackled into the radio. "Me too." It sounded like Cleaves.

Richard turned to the downed man that attacked Tera, and grabbed him by the neck. "Why the fuck did you try to kill us?" Richard tried his best not to beat the shit out of the man that attacked Tera.

"Fuck you pig!" Was the man's response. Richard hated this man, the thought that he could have killed Tera just made Richard want to tear his throat out. Richard took his hand off the man's neck, if he kept in there another second then the temptation to choke him to death would have been to great. "You tried to kill my friend. Why?" Richard's anger was clear in his voice.

"I don't know, we just didn't like your fuckin' faces." The man angrily replied.

Richard could easily imagine himself stomping on the downed man's face. "You pathetic piece of shit."

"Not as pathetic as I'm going to make you look when I cut you up." The man said back to him.

Tera wanted to hit him for saying that to Richard, but she stayed calm. Richard ignored his lame threats and walked over to Tera.

The man laughed on the ground. "I'm going to get better, and when I do, I'm going to gut your little friend and make you watch."

After hearing those words, Richard just snapped into a burning rage. He no longer cared if he lost his job, he was going to give that man a beating. He turned to the man and kicked his wound and punched him in the face before kicking him repeatedly in the ribs, this was Richard containing himself. He crouched down to the man who now began coughing up blood and grabbed him by the neck again. "If you ever fucking touch her, I'll rip your fucking teeth out and make you choke on your own blood. You fucking hear me!" Richard punched the man's bleeding wound. "I said do you fucking hear me!"

The man was now cowering, he realized that this was no normal cop. "Yes." the man answered.

"Not good enough." Richard gave the man another punch to the face, this time it knocked him out. Richard got up and turned to Tera. "I'm sorry you had to see that, but he deserved it."

Tera didn't mind him beating that man up, she was just a little shocked at how angry he became, she had never seen him angry before. "It's fine, I wanted to do the same."

Richard checked the other men, the one that attacked him was still conscious, just barely. He walked over to the man that shot him, he noticed that the man never dropped his gun, Richard took out his gun once more, just in case. Richard walked over and put his gun away after he saw that the man's eye was missing and there was a pool of blood red snow behind his head. Tera heard sirens and soon saw a police car rushing down the street with an ambulance following closely behind it. The police car skidded to a halt and out came Ethan, Cleaves, Stripes and the Zangoose.

Ethan was holding his pistol in his hands as he walked over to Richard and Tera, his eyes went over the men on the ground. "You both okay?"

"Richard got shot." Tera said, hoping that somebody would take a look at him.

"It's fine, I'm wearing my vest under my uniform. I don't think I have any broken ribs." The shot hurt him but it was nothing serious, although he was guessing it was going to leave a really big bruise.

Ethan looked over the men on the ground, as far as he could tell two of them were still alive. "How did this happen?"

Richard and Tera explained everything, even why Richard has blood on his knuckles.

"Do you need one of the paramedics to take a look at you Richard?" Ethan asked.

"No thanks, I'm fine." Richard responded.

"Alright. Cleaves, go with those scumbags to the hospital."

Cleaves gave Ethan a confused look. "Why? Cant we just leave them to freeze?"

Ethan knew Cleaves wasn't going to like it, he didn't like it either. "I know, it sucks that we have to keep them alive but lets not forget that these people are going to be behind bars for a very long time."

Cleaves gave a reluctant sigh. "Fine."

Ethan then looked over to Richard and Tera and said, "Richard, Tera, you can both take the day off. I'll give you two a ride back to my place."

They both nodded and followed Ethan to the car. The adrenaline had now left both Richard's and Tera's bodies and were now both feeling a little weak.

_5 minutes later_.

Richard and Tera were now in the house, Ethan went back to the police station just in case something else happened. Tera sat by the fireplace as Richard got a fire going. "Alright, Tera, I'm just going to get changed. You stay here by the fire and get warm."

"Okay." Tera said as she watched Richard walk upstairs. She moved a little closer to the fire to get warmer, she watched the flames glow. Tera couldn't stop thinking about what happened, Richard almost got himself killed by trying to protect her. She remembered the pain in her heart when she saw Richard clutching his chest and the relief she felt when she saw he was fine. Tera knew now that not only would Richard protect her, he would die for her. She then thought back to when he punched and kicked the man that attacked her, she noticed that he didn't attack him until the man threatened to hurt her. She knew that Richard liked her… But did he love her? The attack made her realize that they both might not have long to live, she loved Richard but she feared that he might not feel the same way. After all, she is a Lucario and he's a human, but although they were different on the outside they still seemed so alike. She began daydreaming, thinking about telling Richard those three big words. "I love you."

Richard sat on the bed while taking off his uniform and body armor, there was now a big dark purple bruise on the right side of his chest. It still hurt but he knew that it could have been much worse, that's when the questions started again. 'If I died, what would Tera do? If I died, how much would I regret not telling Tera how I really feel about her?' Both questions hurt him more than when he got shot, it felt like swallowing his own heart and getting punched in the stomach only this time the pain was emotional. He began seriously thinking about telling Tera how he felt, but how would he do that? "Ah shit, I'm over thinking things again." Richard said quietly to himself. He began thinking back to his days as a mercenary, he remembered what Carter told him when he said that he kept asking himself questions. "There's no point in asking 'what if', what's done is done. If you have one weakness, it's that you over think things. A lot of men think about things that they thought about doing at the time but never did, and end up regretting for the rest of their lives. Sometimes its not enough to think, you just have to do it." Richard remembered that little speech from Carter because it sounded like he knew what he was talking about, like he was talking from personal experience. He then remembered asking him what if 'just doing it' turns out to be the wrong decision, he replied "Well, at least you gave it a shot." Richard put on some different clothes, blue jeans, green shirt and walked downstairs.

Richard saw Tera besides the fireplace, she was still wearing his jacket and scarf, she was staring into the fire, it looked like she was thinking about something. Richard slowly walked up to the fireplace and sat down besides Tera, she was still staring into the fire, and it felt like she didn't even notice him. "Are you okay Tera?" He asked.

Tera snapped out of her little daydream when she realized that Richard was back, "Oh, yes, I'm fine. What about you?"

"Well I have a big bruise on my chest and I still feel cold but other than that, I'm feeling good." He replied.

"Does it still hurt?" she asked.

"Yeah, but now it's more like a dull ache." He said.

"Let me take a look at it." she said, getting up quickly.

Richard knew that she had been worried about him since he got shot, maybe she thought there was some internal damage or something. He decided to let her take a look to ease her mind. "Alright then." Richard said as he unbuttoned his shirt to show her the right side of his chest.

Tera gasped slightly at the sight of the big bruise on his chest, although she thought that it would be worse. She noticed a vertical scar about 3 inches long on the left side of his chest. "I… I'm sorry." She said.

"What for?" Richard's voice had asked in a clearly confused tone.

"For putting you in danger. If I had been a little more alert I-" Tera was cut off by Richard interrupting.

"Stop, you have nothing to be sorry for. You were fighting a man that was trying to kill you; it's hard to be aware of your surroundings. You didn't put me in danger, I did, and it was my choice. You once said that I was too hard on myself, I am, but so are you."

There was a two second pause before Tera responded, "Your right."

"I know I am." Richard said.

Tera glanced over to Richard who had a smile on his face, it made her smile too. "Thanks for making me feel better." She stated.

"You're welcome." Richard said, he didn't know why but he got a sort of déjà vu feeling.

5 minutes later.

Richard and Tera are still sitting by the fireplace, talking.

"How did you get that scar on your chest? Was it a mission?" Tera asked curiously.

Richard knew that she was going to ask about it sooner or later. "Yeah, I got it from the only mission that I was involved with that failed. Have you heard of a man called Silas?"

Tera knew that name from the news, nearly everybody knew that name. "Is he the warlord?"

"Yes, warlord, smuggler, slaver. The mission was to kill him and any of his bodyguards." He said.

"But how? He practically has his own army." She asked with an amazed face on.

Richard could see that she was really interested. "He does but this was one of the rare occasions where he was out of his base of operations, he must have been conducting a business deal or something. The mission was carried out by three teams of six men, we were quite well equipped, decent guns, there was one man in each team that carried a rocket launcher."

"What were they used for?" Tera asked.

"To take out any vehicles, we really didn't want him escaping. Anyway, we moved in, took out the vehicles, killed lots of guards and we thought we had secured the area."

"But he's still alive, how did he escape?" Tera asked a second question.

"We thought we had secured it, everybody soon realized that he wasn't among the dead, there were about six of us left and there were three small wooden cabins, we split up into teams of 2 and went for the cabins." Richard said.

"We kicked down the door and checked the room, nothing there but two windows, a desk and a computer. My team mate checked the computer but there was nothing of interest, everything that could have helped us understand what he was doing there or what his next move was going to be was gone." Richard continued.

"I heard something above me, that's when I saw him… He was on the rafters of the cabin. When he knew that I saw him he jumped down, he had a knife in one hand and a revolver in the other. I jumped back but the knife still managed to carve a line down my chest, I fell back and he turned around and shot my team mate three times in the stomach and chest." Richard said.

"I pulled out my pistol and shot him twice in the arm, he dropped his revolver and sprinted towards the window, and then he jumped through it and got away. Carter heard the gunshots and found me on the floor, holding my chest and bleeding on the floor. Luckily some of the equipment we were carrying was basic medical supplies." He finished.

Tera hated to imagine Richard hurt so badly. "What happened next?" Tera asked.

"I got fixed up and sent out on another mission." Richard replied. Tera gave him a shocked face.

"You were badly injured and they just sent you out on another mission?" Tera asked. She couldn't believe it, even if the mercenary company only cared about money it didn't sound like a good idea to send a injured man out to fight.

"Yes, but I was one of their best, they knew that it wouldn't stop me." Richard stated.

"Did you agree to take the mission?" Tera asked.

"Yes." He said.

"But, why?" Tera asked.

"It was a rescue mission; even if I died it would be worth it if I save even just one life."

Tera knew Richard was selfless, that's one of the things she loves about him.

10 minutes later.

Richard and Tera were both still sat by the fireplace, they were both warm but they just didn't feel like getting up. Richard was thinking, 'Is now the right time to tell her?'

That's when a voice rang in his head. 'Do it' Richard decided to tell her, no more waiting around, if he doesn't tell her now then he may regret it later. He was about to speak, but Tera asked him a question first.

"Richard, why did you risk your life to save me?" she asked.

Richard was surprised she asked, but he guessed now would be a good time to tell her. "Because I couldn't live without you."

"R-really?" Tera was surprised, that showed in her voice.

Richard took a deep breath before continuing. "Yes, you're the only thing that's kept me going since that night, when we first met each other." The feeling of something hard going down Richard's throat stopped him from continuing, he knew there was no turning back now.

The one thought repeated through his mind like a song that wouldn't stop playing and playing in his head. Except for the fact that it was only a few words.

"Do you really mean that Richard?" Tera said, her eyes widened.

Richard swallowed a lot of his saliva, trying to suck in every inch of his nerve that he could muster.

"Yes, y-you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." Richard's voice weakened, thoughts of doubt flooded his mind, he was afraid that she would walk away if he told her, but he pressed on. "Tera… I think I've fallen in love with you." He said weakly.

* * *

**Author's note: A big thanks to Infinity Warrior and Hironada for making this chapter a little more realistic, awesome and readable! Also thanks again for doing another edit of this chapter Hironada :D**


	16. Preparing for the worst

Richard prepared himself for the worst, although he felt like he was about to cough up his heart, it felt good to tell her how he really felt.

Tera couldn't believe what she just heard. "Y-you … love me?" she asked nervously.

"Yes … I love you." Richard said as his eyes began to sparkle, just thinking about her walking away from him was enough to make him cry, but he was a tough guy, he held back his tears. He looked down to the floor so that Tera wouldn't see this.

Tera's heart skipped around in her chest as she felt an overwhelming sense of joy and happiness. She looked over to Richard; then she went up to his ear and said those words that she only ever got to say in her dreams. "I love you too." She whispered.

Richard could feel his heart stopping for a second. He looked up and met Tera's gaze, he looked into her beautiful crimson eyes. They stared into each others' eyes for what seemed for like an eternity but in reality, it was only a few seconds.

Tera's eyes were fixed on Richards'; she closed the gap in between hers' and Richards' faces slightly, as did Richard. They leaned in more and more, getting closer and closer to each other, then, their lips touched. Richard strengthened their kiss by placing his hand on the back of her head.

Tera did the same, but with both hands. Soon, they began passionately kissing each other. Any thoughts of doubt or worry in their minds had completely vanished as they explored each other's mouths.

Richard and Tera didn't know how long they had been kissing, but they didn't care. As they both slowly withdrew from their kiss, it left a small trail of saliva and they looked into each other's eyes again.

Richard had never felt like this before in his life, for once, it seemed as if nothing could possibly go wrong. "I love you so much." He said passionately.

Tera smiled as she placed her paw on his cheek and leaned in to kiss him again, but they were both interrupted by the sound of the front door unlocking. They both spun around to see Ethan and the Zangoose hurriedly entering the house, Ethan was wearing a thick navy blue coat that was now  
coated in snow.

Richard looked at his watch; their shift wasn't over till another half an hour. "Your back soon, something wrong?" he asked concerned.

Ethan glanced over to Richard and Tera who were sitting next to the fireplace. "You mean besides the subzero temperatures, blizzard like weather conditions and the fact we have cop killers in a hospital?" he replied with a chuckle.

Richard and Tera both instantly looked at each other when Ethan said 'cop killers'. Tera decided to ask him a question. "They are cop killers? That's why they tried to kill us!" Tera exclaimed as she let out her anger that she held since they attacked Richard and herself, they almost killed the one  
person she could ever be in love with.

Ethan was slightly surprised by the anger in her voice, he couldn't ever remember her being angry but he didn't blame her for being pissed. After all, those men intended to kill both her and Richard.

"Yeah, when we got them to the hospital I made a few calls. It turns out that they were on the run in one of the cities, the weather conditions made it easier for them to sneak out of the city without any police interruption." Ethan stated as he rubbed his hands together.

Richard balled his hands up into fists as he thought about those men, how many people like himself and Tera had they killed? He knew that they weren't going to get away with it lightly. "How long do you think they will be sent down for?" Richard asked hoping for a long sentence.

"Over here, I would say about 3 life sentences each but the area where they were wanted in still carries the death penalty for this kind of thing." Ethan said as he shrugged. The Zangoose shook its' fur and curled up into a ball in front of the fire.

Richard wasn't going to shed any tears for them; the world is a safer place without them. "Good, they deserve whatever is planned for them." Richard stated. He knew that it might have sounded a bit cold, but he didn't care.

It was clear to Ethan that they both shared a hatred for those men that attacked them; he decided to cheer things up. "Alright, I think we've all had of enough talking about killers for one day. So, is anybody hungry?" he asked with a happy voice.

Tera's stomach let out a growl as if answering him. Ethan let out a little chuckle. "I'll take that as a yes." Ethan said as he walked over to the kitchen with the Zangoose.

Richard and Tera were now alone in the room; they then both looked at each other and quickly found themselves drawn into another wet, warm, passionate kiss.

30 minutes later.

Richard and Tera were cuddled up on the couch; they felt warm and peaceful together.  
Tera rested her head on Richard's chest as he stroked the back of her head.

Ethan was sat on the other couch with the Zangoose. He had noticed how close Richard and Tera had gotten over the past few weeks, he found it rather cute and that's saying a lot coming from him but, he wondered just how close had they gotten. He decided not to pry into their personal affairs and continued watching the movie with his friends.

2 hours later.

The movie had ended but Richard did not move, Tera was now sleeping, her head still rested against his chest.

Ethan was still awake but the Zangoose was asleep, he noticed Richard was still awake. Ethan hadn't asked him any questions about his past since the first night Richard, Tera and the Zangoose stayed at the house.

But he knew Richard more now; he guessed he would be more open to questions about his past now. "Richard, what was your life like before you met Tera?" Ethan said, his voice was quieter than usual.

Richard knew that Ethan didn't know much about his past, he didn't want to tell him but they had been friends for some time now, he guessed he deserved some answers. "Hell, I almost died like about 3 times a month." Richard's voice was almost silent, mainly because he didn't want to wake Tera.

Ethan was intrigued. "Did you have a hard life?" he asked, hopefully getting deeper into this situation.

"Yeah. I know you don't know much about my past, so, what do you want to know?" Richard replied.

Ethan had loads of questions he wanted to ask him, but he stuck with the basic questions. "Do you have any family?" one was.

Richard felt anger as he thought back to when he was a little boy, when he kept asking the people in the orphanage 'Why didn't they want me?' he thought. "No, I was raised in an orphanage, I don't know if they didn't want me or if they died but either way, I want to know, or at least, wanted." He stated, remembering the times that he had there.

Ethan was slightly shocked, he wanted to know more. "What would you do if they were still alive?" he asked, intriguingly.

That question was one that Richard often asked himself. "I don't know, maybe I would ask them why they left me, or maybe I would just punch them in their faces." He said.

"Are you still angry that they left you?" Ethan asked.

"Yes and no, I mean I don't know if they did leave me … but I think it worked out for the best." Richard said.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" he asked, curiously.

"Well I guess it's better to be an orphan and think that maybe my parents are dead than to live with a family that doesn't want me. Besides, if I did live with them, I probably wouldn't have met Tera." Richard said as he looked down to the cute Lucario that was sleeping silently, resting her head on his chest.

Ethan saw the way he looked at her, that prompted more questions but he decided to stick with questions relating to his personal history. "What happened when you left the orphanage?" he asked.

"I joined a gang and killed them and their leader when they kidnapped a small girl and their leader tried to punch her." Richard stated.

Ethan was shocked, he knew he was tough but taking out an entire gang is impressive, more questions were asked. "How did you take them out? What happened to the girl? And what happened to you?" he also asked.

Richard could see Ethan was shocked, that's one of the reasons why he didn't want to tell him anything. "I took out their leader first, he had a gun and I took it and killed the body guard in the room and all the others that came through the door. I led the girl to a police station and told her to go in their and tell them what happened, after that I fled the city, became a traveler and joined a mercenary group." Richard stated.

Ethan really wasn't sure what to ask next, so he just asked the first question that came into his head. "How did you get here?" was his question.

"A mission ..." Richard paused, unsure if it was a good idea to tell him the rest of the story. He knew Ethan was a good man, he just hoped that he would understand, Richard continued his sentence, "Remember that shoot out about a month ago in the forest?"

Ethan quickly pieced everything together, he was a mercenary and the shoot out was carried out by mercenaries, it didn't take him long to come to a realization. "You were one of the mercenaries that killed those killers weren't you?" he knew the answer.

"Yes." Richard partly expected him to get talked down to or get shouted at or something, but instead he saw a smile across Ethan's face.

"Then I should thank you." Ethan stated.

"What for?" Richard asked in a confused tone.

"Those killers also killed some of the locals around here, I was thinking about going after them myself but I had no idea where they were hiding. How many got out alive?" he asked, hopeful for a high number.

"Just me … remember when I told you that my friend had died? He died on that mission." Richard sadly said.

Ethan started to regret asking Richard about his past, he could see it wasn't making him feel any better. "I'm sorry." He said.

"It's alright, I've gotten over the past now." Richard replied.

Ethan wanted to ask him another question, he wasn't sure if he should ask it but he did anyway.

"Richard, could I ask you another question." He said.

"Sure, go ahead." Richard replied.

Ethan glanced over to Tera to make sure she wasn't awake he then asked the question. "Do you like Tera as more than a friend?" he asked, probably knowing the answer.

Richard looked over to Tera, the most beautiful thing in the world that he had ever seen, he then turned to look at Ethan and give his answer. "Yes, I love her." He stated.

Ethan wasn't surprised, he suspected it for a long time. "Have you told her?" he asked.

"Yes, I told her today." Richard replied.

Now Ethan was surprised. "You only just told her? Why?" he asked

"I didn't want to loose her by telling her, I was afraid that she would just run away but then I got shot today, all I could think about was telling her how I felt. I didn't want to die without telling her that I love her." Richard said.

Ethan isn't one to let romantics get to him but he could see that he truly loved her. "What did she say when you told her?" Ethan asked.

"She told me that she loves me." When Richard said that, a grin grew across his face.

Ethan was glad that Richard and Tera are together as a couple now; they just seemed so perfect for each other. "I hope your both happy together." Ethan said in a friendly tone.

Richard smiled and said, "Thank you."

90 minutes later.

Richard and Ethan had been talking all night, about Richard's missions, the cop killers, Cleaves and his shooting skills and a lot of other stuff of no real importance.

They kept talking, until Richard noticed Tera's eyes opening. Richard looked down at Tera and said "Oh, sorry if I woke you. Do you want to go to bed?" he asked.

Tera nodded lightly in response.

Richard smiled as he placed one arm around her back and the other underneath her legs. Tera opened up her eyes a little more when she realized that he was carrying her. Richard looked into her crimson eyes. "Let's go then." He said as he walked towards the stairs, still carrying her in his arms. She didn't resist, she was too sleepy and besides, she kind of liked it.

Richard carried her up the stairs and into her bedroom, she lay on the bed as he pulled the covers over her. Richard knelt down besides her and kissed the top of her head before saying "Good night." Richard was about to leave until he felt Tera's paw on his arm.

"Wait, I want you to stay with me." She said.

Richard's heart filled with joy when he heard her say that. "I will." he said as he climbed into bed with her. Richard lay in bed behind Tera, he lightly hugged her and she held his arm with one of her paws, slightly stroking his arm.

Tera felt happy that they were finally together. "I love you Richard." Tera whispered. "I love you too." Richard whispered back. Their eyelids began to feel heavy, soon enough they just couldn't stay awake they fell asleep, still cuddling up to each other even in a deep sleep.

**Author's note: Thank you again to Infinity Warrior for adding really cool bits to this story and correcting my horrible punctuation :)**


	17. Passionate love

Richard's eyes slowly opened his eyes, he smiled when he saw Tera, the beautiful Lucario that had stunned him from day one, still asleep but now she was facing him. He couldn't stop staring at her beautiful face, her light breathing and the small smile spread across her face.

Part of this, Richard still couldn't believe that this was real; he never thought that he would fall in love with someone and he defiantly didn't think that someone would be a Pokemon.

That was the biggest shocker.

He quickly snapped out of his thoughts when he remembered that he had a job to do and he didn't know the time, he worried for a moment. Richard had taken a look at his watch; he was 3 hours late for work. Richard knew he had to get up but he wanted to stay in bed with Tera, and that's what he did.

Richard rested his eyes a little longer and a few minutes later, he heard Tera letting out a short yawn. He turned to face his perfect furry black, cream and blue soul mate. "Sleep well?" Richard asked with a smile on his face.

Tera looked into Richard's bluish-grayish eyes and gave a little grin before wrapping her arms around him and giving him a nice, long, wet, passionate kiss. Richard gently placed his hands on the back of her head and kissed back, their tongues teasing each other as they paused for air.

Richard looked into her eyes once more, they were warm and loving. Everything seemed perfect to him, and he never wanted this moment to end. Tera looked at Richards' almost stupidly happy expression and giggled a little.

Richard loved it when she smiled; and especially when she giggled. To him when she giggled it was like a sunshine of happiness was raining on him with her beautiful face.

Richard gave a confused, but loving look. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing." She replied with a cute smile. "Isn't it time for work now?" She asked to avoid Richard's question.

"Yeah, we're over 3 hours late." Richard stated.

Tera was a little confused. "We are? Didn't Ethan try to wake us?" she asked

"If he did, then we both must have been in a really deep sleep." Richard replied.

"Should we look for him?" Tera asked concernedly.

"Yeah, let's go find him." Richard didn't want to leave the bed but he still had to do his job.

A few minutes passed before they both walked downstairs, Richard and Tera both felt the frigid air around them and it gave them goosebumps. As they looked around for Ethan or the Zangoose but they were nowhere to be seen. Richard called out for him.

"Ethan, are you still here?" There was no response, that's when he noticed a note on the table by the front door. Richard picked it up and read it out aloud for Tera.

"To whoever picks this up first,

The doctors at the hospital advised me to let you both have the day off, Cleaves will also be calling around the house later to do a check up on Richard's chest. Also there's something important I have to tell Richard when I get back. Anyway, enjoy your day off."

Richard looked back over to Tera. "Well, looks like we're alone again." Richard said with a smile. Tera smiled back as she leaned in for a kiss and was going to make it long, Richard did the same but was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking at the door.

Richard let out a sigh, "Why now?" he whispered as he lowered his head. If Richard had the day off; all that he wanted to do was to spend time with Tera.

Tera placed her paw under his chin to raise his head; she looked into his eyes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Richard suddenly felt a lot happier, but then there was another knock at the door. "I'll answer it, then we can do whatever we want, okay?" Richard whispered to Tera.

"Okay." Tera replied.

Richard walked over to the front door and opened it to reveal Cleaves and Stripes. They both walked in, both shivering and trying to get warm. "Your here to take a look at me, aren't you?" Richard asked.

"Well when people get shot they usually get to the hospital, you should have done that. You know that right?" Cleaves replied sarcastically.

"Yeah but when people get shot they aren't usually wearing body armor. I'm fine, really."

"I know that but I still have to examine you, trust me, I'm almost a doctor." Cleaves said.

"Err … almost?" Richard replied while nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, some technical stuff I'd rather not get into. Anyway, let's see the damage." Cleaves stated, wanting to throw the topic off.

Richard unbuttoned his shirt and Cleaves asked some questions like, 'does it hurt here?' and 'have you had trouble breathing?' Richard buttoned his shirt back up again when Cleaves said that he was fine and just needed to take some painkillers which Cleaves then gave to him.

Richard remembered that Ethan had something important to talk to him about; he guessed Cleaves would probably know what he wanted to talk about. "Hey Cleaves, do you know what Ethan wanted to talk to me about?" he asked.

Cleaves had no idea what he was talking about. "No, I didn't even know he wanted to talk to you about something." Was his reply.

Richard knew he wasn't going to get anything more out of Cleaves. "Eh, never mind. Thanks for painkillers."

"Your welcome, now I have a job to get back to." Cleaves said as he made his way to the front door and left with Stripes.

Richard closed the front door and turned to face Tera. "Well, what do you want to do now?" Richard asked with a smirk.

Tera blushed lightly and whispered into Richards' ear. "Let's go to bed." She said with a cute little grin. Richard had a strange feeling that a lot of kissing was going to happen.

Richard also felt something in his stomach fluttering and a feeling of overwhelming joy. "What ever you want." Richard replied happily.

Tera walked up the stairs and went for her bedroom, as Richard followed closely behind. They were once again in Tera's bedroom; Richard sat down on the bed and looked up to Tera who had a heavenly smile on her face.

Tera moved closer to Richard and placed both paws on his shoulders and pinned him down to the bed. Richard smiled at the Lucario that was now lying on top of him, staring into his eyes, he raised his head as she lowered hers and their lips connected.

A jolt of love. They felt the jolt the second their lips connected and both of them loved it intensely.

They closed their eyes as they embraced each other, Richard's hands were now on Tera's back, one hand went lower, caressing her butt. Tera moaned a little into Richard's mouth, they both paused for air and Tera said those words that Richard could never possibly get tired of hearing.

"I love you." Tera said in a caring tone.

"I love you too, and I always will." Richard said, meaning every word.

Tera knew that this was the man that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with; she wanted to show him just how much she loved him.

Richard undoubtedly felt the same, although he was confused on some aspects, seeing as this was his first love.

"Richard I-I want to be with you…" Tera said shyly.

Richard knew what she meant; he just hoped that he wasn't pressuring her into it. "Are you sure? I mean we don't have to unless you want to, you know that. Right?" he asked.

"I've never been surer of anything else in my life." Tera said as she stroked the side of his face.

Richard looked deeply into her eyes. He felt her love emitting from her soul, her passion through her actions, her cheerfulness through her personality, and her beauty throughout her inner and outer body.

He couldn't have been happier as he rolled over to his side so now he was on top of Tera. He gave her a long and passionate kiss. When they withdrew from their kiss Tera's paws went to Richards chest, He unbuttoned his shirt and threw it to one side.

Tera's paws went down Richard's chest and down to his stomach; she admired every part of him. They both kissed each other as Richard's hand moved up Tera's thigh; she breathed in deeply and moaned in pleasure as his hand moved in between her legs.

Richard rubbed through her damp fur and massaged her soaking wet slit, her moans of pleasure was like music to his ears. Tera's paws went down to Richard's loose fitting jeans which she easily pulled down, she saw that Richard was now erect and began to rub it gently through his boxer shorts.

Richard pulled down his boxers with one hand and kept rubbing her with the other. Tera rubbed him with both paws, Richard let out pleasure filled grunts as he felt Tera's paws on his manhood. Their pleasure built up as they continued rubbing each other, teasing each other, Tera wanted him now and he wanted her.

"Richard, I want you inside me." Tera said, her voice consumed by pleasure and lust. Richard nodded and quickly removed his jeans and boxers, also removing his shoes and socks in the process. He positioned himself on top of her and guided his cock into her wet slit.

The tip of his manhood prodded her entrance, he slowly pressed himself into her, Tera gasped as she felt him entering her. Richard felt her tightness and warmth as his tip entered her, but then Richard hit something and Tera let out a small whimpering sound. Richard stopped immediately when he realized what he had hit, her hymen.

"I-I'm sorry. Should I stop?" Richard asked out of worry. "No, I … I want you to break it." Tera said reassuringly with a slight look of worry on her face. Richard nodded and rubbed the tip of his manhood along her entrance, he didn't go in deep enough to break it just yet, and he didn't want her to feel it.

He slid his cock across her pussy and rubbed her clit at the same time, she moaned out in pleasure which added to Richard's own.

Tera huffed as she came closer to her climax, Richard could see she was close, that's when he did it. He drove himself deeper and deeper inside her, Tera let out a moan of both pain and pleasure. Richard could feel her surrounding his manhood, so wet, so soft, and so tight.

Richard pumped slowly again, Tera's pelvis moved in rhythm with his as they built up in both speed and pleasure. Tera could feel him deep inside her, she savoured every second of it as his hard hot cock was pushed deeper inside her, it was beginning to become too much for her, she tried to hold it to make it last longer, but she couldn't hold it.

Richard felt Tera's legs wrap around his waist, drawing him as deep as he could go, he looked into Tera's eyes which were now filled with lust and love. Tera let out several loud moans and groans before crying out in pure pleasure as she came to her climax.

Hearing her in so much pleasure combined with the sudden tightening and wetness that he felt around his rock hard shaft sent Richard over the edge, he pushed in as deeply as he could and let out a growl of pleasure as he came deep inside her, letting out five short, thick blasts of cum.

Tera could feel him flooding inside her as she pulled herself up to give Richard a kiss. Richard kissed back as he felt their love fluids sliding down his manhood and onto the bed.

Richard looked at his Lucario lover; he didn't want this unbelievable feeling of complete pleasure and love to end just yet. "Ready for round two?" Richard panted.

A smile grew across Tera's face. "Oh yes." She happily replied.

Richard laid on his back on the bed as Tera slowly lowered herself onto his manhood, he let out a small moan as he felt the walls of her warm wet cunt tighten around his cock. They panted and moaned in time with each other, each sound that came from one of them sounded like music to the other.

Tera pushed and lifted herself up and down Richard's shaft as he moved and pumped in rhythm with her, he placed his hands on her waist to help lift her and bring her back down onto his manhood.

Their speed increased and they soon found themselves on the brink of another orgasm. Tera rocked her pelvis back and forth, grinding Richard's cock deeper into her pussy before they both let out a great lustful wail as they both came to a climax.

Tera's cunt tightened and convulsed around Richard's cock as he shot ropes of cum into her. Tera rested on Richards chest, panting as he slowly pulled out of her, she felt both of their love juices slowly leaking out of her pussy and sliding down her thighs.

They both now laid on the bed both hot, sweaty, panting, looking into each other's eyes and stroking each other, and both happy in the knowledge that they truly loved each other. Tera was the first to speak. "Richard, was it your first too?" she asked.

Richard had never had a chance to get 'intimate'; he spent most of his life alone before he met Tera. "Yes, and I'm glad that it's with you." Richard replied warmly.

"I'm glad too." Tera said as she snuggled into Richard's chest, she could hear his heart beating which brought a smile to her face.

They both just lay there, enjoying the moment, slowly closing their eyes.

Richard could feel her heartbeat and her love. He admired and loved her beyond his vast imagination.

Tera loved Richard. Not just for the kind-hearted, funny guy that he was. But also for his personality, looks, and the fact that he saved her life.

6 hours later.

They both opened their eyes as they heard something downstairs. Richard sat upright on the bed; he remembered that Ethan had wanted to talk to him about something important. Richard looked behind him, he saw Tera with a big smile on her face.

Richard's stomach growled a little, he remembered that they hadn't had anything to eat today. "Hey, are you hungry?" Richard asked.

"Starving!" Tera hastily replied as she rubbed her belly. Richard chuckled.

"Let's go eat then, I think I heard Ethan downstairs." Richard said.

"Okay, I'm just going to wash my fur first." Tera replied.

"Alright, I'll go see what Ethan wanted to talk to be about." Richard said as he found his shirt. Tera got up and hugged Richard tightly before almost skipping off to the door.

Seeing Tera so happy made Richard happy, he found it hard to believe that just a month ago he didn't believe in love, but now he's with the one person in the world he would do anything for, the one person that he lives for, the one person that made life seem worth living.

He had seen the worst of the world, but now he saw the best of it.

A few minutes passed before Richard walked downstairs, he saw Ethan and the Zangoose on the couch watching TV. Ethan looked behind him and saw Richard. "Ah, there you are. Enjoy your day off?" Ethan asked.

Richard grinned, this was probably the happiest day of his life, or maybe that was when he told Tera that he loved her. "Yeah, did you want to talk to me about something?" Richard replied.

Ethan got up off the couch and walked over to the kitchen, he tilted his head towards the kitchen door, motioning Richard to follow him.

They now stood in the kitchen, Ethan spoke up first. "Remember when…" Ethan stopped himself, he wasn't sure if he could find the right words, he knew that what he was about to say would have a huge impact on Richard, but still, he felt like he had the right to know, but did he still even want to know?

"Err; I'm not quite sure how to say this so I'll just spit it out. Do you still want to know about your parents?" Ethan asked rather bluntly. Richard gave a look that was mixed with both confusion and shock, questions raced around his mind which he then voiced.

"Do you know something about them? Do you know what happened to them? Are they even alive?" Richard asked, his voice sounded bewildered. Ethan knew that once he told him, that was it; he couldn't reverse time and just not tell him. He asked him once more.

"Do you still want to know about them?" Ethan asked. There was a pause; Richard started thinking about his answer. All these years they had been dead to him, he could only imagine what they looked or sounded like.

He remembered when he desperately searched for answers at the orphanage but found none. He wanted to know, to find answers. "Yes, I want to know." Richard's reply was.

Richard gulped. The moment had come. The moment for his truth about his past, especially who his parents were.

**Author's note: Another thank you to Infinity Warrior for correcting the spelling and punctuation as well as adding cool lines to this chapter! Also a thank you to Hironada who corrected the spelling and punctuation that both me and Warrior missed!**


	18. The truth hurts

Ethan prepared himself for how Richard would react; he took out a brown blank envelope from his pocket and handed it to Richard.

He stared at the envelope now in his hands, wondering what horrible information it would contain that may destroy him emotionally.

He slowly opened it to reveal some white papers which he then took out and examined. He couldn't believe it; the paper he was holding in his hand had information on his father, and a picture.

He was a lot different than he expected, he looked overweight and his red hair was all messed up, there was something about his face that Richard just hated, he only thought it to be a reaction to him leaving him or dying.

He looked at the list of information below the picture.

_First Name: William_  
_Middle name(s): Michael_  
_Last name: Taylor_

_Age: 49_

_Eye color: Green_  
_Height: 5 ft 10 in_  
_Weight: 350 IBS (Last time measured)_

_Current location of residence: Hoenn, Rustboro city outskirts._

_Known background information: Born in Johto, Goldenrod city and later joined Johto's army at the age of 18, discharged for disorderly conduct shortly afterward. Later arrested for burglary, assault and arson. Moved to Hoenn at the age of 39._

_Status: Alive._

_Other information: Medically classified alcoholic, also with a violent tendency. (According to Goldenrod police)_

Richard shifted the papers around in his hand and found a similar paper, only this time it was information on his mother. He looked at the picture of the young woman with short brown hair before reading the paper.

_First name: Mia_  
_Middle name(s): (No classified name)_  
_Last name: Thompson_

_Age: 24 (before deceased)_

_Eye color: Blue_  
_Height: 5 ft 4 in_  
_Weight: 150 IBS (before deceased)_

_Current location of residence: (INVALID)_

_Known background information: Born in Johto, Azalea town. Worked as a trainer at the local poke gym before meeting William Michael Taylor. Later died in child birth._

_Status: Deceased._

Richard's eyes widened, 'Did my father blame me? Is that why he put me in an orphanage?' he thought to himself. He had to know more now, he couldn't leave it to eat slowly away at him, he needed answers and to get those answers, he had to talk to his father, although he knew it wasn't going to end well. Just a feeling.

"Hey, can we go there?" Richard asked whilst pointing to the text on William's location.

Ethan knew that Richard would want to know more. "Yeah, when do you want to go?" Ethan asked.  
Richard felt like saying 'Now' but he knew it was too late to travel there today. He wanted answers and wanted them now though. "Tomorrow." Richard stated. He hoped that Ethan wouldn't say 'no'.

"Tomorrow it is then, I'm sorry to drop this on you." Ethan said with sympathy included. "It's fine … I wanted to know. Thank you." Richard slowly said along with a struggle to smile.

"Don't mention it; are you and Tera coming to watch something?" Ethan said as he tried to move onto a more pleasant subject.

"Yeah, that and we're going to get something to eat." Richard replied as he gave a small smile, trying to lighten up his own mood.

"Ah, I'll cook you both something up." Ethan said, he hated to admit it but he was actually a really damn good cook.

"Thanks, I'll be on the couch if you need me." Richard said as he left the kitchen. Ethan nodded in response but understood why he would want to stay by himself or think for a moment.

Richard looked around; he could see the Zangoose on the couch but Tera was not there. He then guessed that she was still in the shower. Richard headed for his room, he didn't know why, but it just felt like something was missing. Something that was important.

Emphasis on the word, 'Was'.

He walked into his room and his eyes scanned the room, he saw his combat knife on the bedside table, his eyes then went down to his boot almost as if to confirm what he was seeing. "Huh, that's strange." Richard said to himself.

He never forgotten to take his combat knife with him, not since he became a mercenary, it had almost become a routine for him. Why he would forget now was a mystery to him. He picked it up but stopped himself from slotting it into his boot.

There was something more to this than just forgetfulness, Richard just didn't know what, and maybe it was a sign that he was forgetting his old life, or maybe it was just him over thinking things again. Possibly both.

He thought about why he would even be looking for his combat knife, it's not like they were in any danger right now. He placed his combat knife back on the bedside table and left the room. He walked back downstairs and sat on the other couch and watched the news with the Zangoose.

He just watched dull people talk; his ears didn't even process half of the things they were saying as he thought about everything, about his father, about those cop killers, and about his and Tera's future together.

He was so deep into his own thoughts that he didn't even notice that Ethan sitting on the other couch with the Zangoose, but he did notice one thing, one of the news reporters talking on the TV.

"Casualties were massive on both sides as the army tried to repel a attack carried out by Silas' private army of slavers. Vermillion City is now a shadow of its former glory, the slavers made off with over half of the city's population before the army could react." The reporter said as pictures of burned down and blown up buildings were shown.

"Silas, that fucking bastard." Richard said with a burning hate in his voice which caught the attention of both Ethan and the Zangoose. Every time Richard heard that name it made him wish that those two bullets that struck Silas' arm had hit his head.

"You really hate him don't you?" Ethan asked.

"Yes, the fucker deserves to die. I just wish that my bullets had blown his brains out." Richard said, his voice still containing the hatred.

Ethan was a little confused. "I'm I missing something here?"

"I was on a mission to take him out, I had him in my sights and the fucker got away. He must have thought I was dead when his knife slashed down my chest, I was down on the ground and bleeding badly but I managed to shoot him twice in the arm before he got away. Most of the missions I have been on have been to take out some shady gangs, slavers and criminals that were all supplied with weapons, men and equipment by Silas. If I had killed him, this wouldn't have happened and the world would be a much more peaceful place. But now it seems that even the army isn't a match for him, that man has to die." Richard angrily said as he looked to see Ethan's and the Zangoose's surprised expressions. It seemed that every mission was somehow connected to Silas, the man was pure evil.

Ethan had no idea that Richard had a past with Silas, he had never heard of somebody actually facing him and living to tell about it. "Don't kick yourself over something that isn't your fault, you were wounded and bleeding, there's not much you could have done, besides I think that your the only person in the world that actually managed shoot him and that's gotta count for something." Ethan said in an attempt to make him feel better, he thought that Richard must feel like shit now, first he knows that his father is alive and his mother died giving birth to him and now he thinks that he could have prevented an attack that ended so many people's lives.

Richard knew that it wasn't really his fault, it was Silas' fault, he ordered his men to attack Vermillion, not him. He still felt like he could have done something about it though. "I know it wasn't my fault, but I still want him dead."

"Who doesn't?" Ethan asked rhetorically.

Richard heard foot steps coming down the staircase and he looked around to see Tera walking over to him. Tera lay down on the couch he was on and rested her head on his lap. "Hey, what are we watching?" Tera said happily.

"Oh, just some news stuff." Richard replied with a smile. It was amazing how fast she could make him forget about everything else in the world, he had almost forgotten what he was talking to Ethan about.

Ethan noticed the look of happiness on their faces, he was surprised at how quickly Richard's mood changed.

The Zangoose smiled at the sight of the cuddling human and Lucario, they looked so happy together. She wondered if Tera had finally told him how she feels about him.

Hours passed and Richard and Tera had something to eat and soon found themselves back in Tera's bedroom. Tera remembered that Ethan wanted to talk to him about something. "Did you find out what Ethan wanted to talk about?" Tera asked.

Richard let out a sigh, he dreaded the thought of waking up in the morning and meeting his father for the first time in his life. "Yes, Ethan gave me information on my … my parents." Richard said painfully.

Tera's ears perked up. "He did? What happened?"

Richard took a deep breath as he began to explain what he had just heard himself. "I found out that my mother died in child birth and my father is still alive in the outskirts of Rustboro city." Richard said as he looked down to the floor.

Tera could see the pain in his face, she couldn't imagine what was going through his mind. "What are you going to do?" Tera asked in a sympathetic tone.

Richard had thought about it and he knew what he was going to do, but he didn't know if he had the mental strength to go through with it. "I'm going to find him and I'm going to get answers, Ethan has agreed to take me to Rustboro … but I don't think I can do this alone … will you come with me Tera?" Richard asked.

Tera didn't have to even think about her answer. "Of course I will." Tera said as she placed her paw on his shoulder.

Richard placed his hand over her paw, knew he could rely on her. "Thank you." He said as he smiled faintly. "Come on, lets get some sleep." Richard said while slipping under the covers of the bed. Tera did the same and wrapped her arms around Richard. They wanted to make love but they knew that Ethan and the Zangoose would probably hear them, so they just held each other closely and gently stroked and kissed until they fell asleep happily in each other's arms.

_9AM._

The sun shone through the window and onto the sleeping man and Lucario. Tera's eyes fluttered open and she slowly sat up and smiled at her man.

Richard awoke shortly after she sat up, he saw the bright smile an her face and smiled back, but then he quickly remembered what day it was. It's the day he finds out everything about his parents, the day he confronts his farther.

Tera saw the look of depression on his face, she wanted to comfort him. "Are you okay Richard?" Tera asked.

"Ugh, I'm fine. I just don't know what to expect from my father but I have a feeling that I wont find anything good. He's got a criminal record and I don't know him, I have to be ready for anything." Richard said as he looked at his hand that was balled up into a fist.

"You don't think he will attack you, do you?" Tera asked concernedly.

A tear fell down Richard's face. He knew that something bad was inevitable and didn't want to tell Tera. Tera did see the tear and wiped it off of his face, comforting him just a tad.

"I don't know, but if he does..." Richard trailed off as he began thinking about all the different situations that could occur. "I just hope I get the answers I'm looking for, after that I don't care what happens to him." Richard added.

"What if he wants to see you again?" Tera asked.

"Well then he had better have a damn good excuse for stuffing me in an orphanage. Come on, Ethan is probably waiting for us downstairs." Richard mumbled in a low tone.

A few minutes later and Richard and Tera were in the back of Ethan's car, on their way to Richard's farther. The more Richard thought about his father the more it pissed him off. Questions kept voicing themselves in his head.

'Why the fuck did he leave me? What kind of fuck up is he? What will he think of me and Tera?' The last question he thought about the most. He didn't care if his 'father' didn't approve, its not like he was ever there for him but still, he couldn't get it out of his head.

The car came to a halt. Richard's heart beat increased, due to the nervousness of meeting his father. "We're here. I'll wait for you two in the car." Ethan stated.

Richard nodded to Ethan before opening the car door and closing it behind him. Tera was by his side, and that gave him the strength to walk up to the cottage that he saw ahead of them. This was it, now he find's out just why he had to live a life of physical pain and loneliness.

He couldn't say that he would rather his farther have raised him knowing his criminal record but still, he had to know. Richard and Tera both walked up to the cottage, Tera looked around her, and the forest was such a calming place even when it was covered in snow. Richard stepped up to the door. "Well... shit, I guess this is it then." He said to himself as he knocked on the door three times.

An overweight man with short messy red hair answered the door dressed in a black shirt and blue jeans. "What the fuck do you want?" The man angrily barked.

'What the fuck do you want?' Richard couldn't believe it, he had thought about this man all his life and the first thing he heard from him was 'What the fuck do you want?'. "Answers, thats what I want." Richard angrily said as visions of him smashing his farther in his face rapidly played in his mind.

"Answers? Who the fuck are you to want answers from me?"

"Who am I?" Richard repeated. "Who am I?" he repeated again, this time with a maniacal laugh that scared Tera. "I'M YOUR FUCKING SON YOU DICKHEAD!" Richard shouted as loud as he could. "NOW GIVE ME THE ANSWERS I WANT!"

The man looked startled for a second. "You're my son? You're still alive?" the man asked his voice now calm and bewildered at the same time.

"Yeah, bet you didn't expect that did you? Now tell me, why did you leave me to rot in some shitty little orphanage in Johto?" Richard asked, his voice engulfed in anger.

"I knew I wasn't going to be a good father, besides I never wanted you, it was your mother that wanted you, not me." The man stated with a chuckle and his voice eerily calm and cold.

"That's your excuse? You didn't want me so you just threw me in some orphanage, that place was a fucking death sentence! Nobody came out of their with any hopes or dreams, we we're fed only what we needed to survive, and the brightest future ahead of us was living with a gang and hoping that you don't get killed by one of their rivals!" Richard could feel the rage rising inside him.

"I don't care." The man said bluntly while folding his arms.

Tera was shocked; this man had no regrets about leaving his son, the man she loved. How anybody could leave such a sweet and caring person behind was a mystery to her. "You're a monster." Tera said with hatred.

The man's head turned to the Lucario. "Is my son some shitty little Pokemon trainer?" the man asked calmly.

"I'm a deputy. What are you? Some washed up drug addict? You certainly look like one." Richard replied snappily with a chuckle.

"And what the hell is your little blue friend doing here?" The man asked, keeping his eerily calm, cold tone.

"She's my..." Richard didn't know what to say. He stopped for a moment. What should he say? My Partner? My Girlfriend? My Lover? My Soul mate? "My… Soul mate." Richard stated.

A surprised expression spread across the man's face "Soul mate? Your in love with a fucking dog?"

Richard couldn't contain his anger any longer. He clenched his fist in complete anger and took a deep breath. He looked at the person who didn't even to be deserved to be called his father.

He raised his fist. His fist then connected with his father's jaw and he watched him stumble and fall to the wooden floor of the cottage.

The man looked up at his son, stunned that the little fucker had the balls to punch him. "You little shit!" He said as he reached for something behind him. The item gleamed.

Richard rushed over to the downed man just as he pulled out a revolver, he managed to grab his father's hand in which he was holding the gun and quickly push it upwards towards the ceiling just as he fired the first round.

Richard brought down his fist on his father's face twice as he twisted the gun out of his father's hand. Richard now held the gun to his father's head; he saw the look of shock and fear in his father's eyes.

Richard weighed the gun in his hands, without moving it. He took a quick glance and quickly noted it as a Colt .45.

His whole body yelled to pull the trigger, to save his life and all the people he had hated. His father's eyes opened, with adrenaline flowing through his body.

Tera watched in horror as the man she loves, was about to kill his own father. She ran up to him and begged, "Please don't do it. He isn't worth it."

The temptation to just spray is father's brains on the floor were great but he didn't do it, he wasn't the killer he was trained to be when Tera begged him.

Richard slammed the handle of the revolver onto his father's nose which than started to bleed profusely; he then raised the revolver again and brought it down sharply onto his father's forehead. Richard now looked down onto his fathers bleeding unconscious form.

"RICHARD!" Tera called out as she opened her eyes, to see him, his father bleeding, and the cottage.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Richard reassured her as he slowly stood up.

"Richard! Tera!" Ethan shouted out as he ran into the cottage and saw Richard holding a revolver and a man on the floor bleeding from his forehead and nose. "What the hell happened here?" Ethan asked.

"He pulled a gun out on me so I knocked him out." Richard stated plainly while showing him the revolver in his hand.

"He was going to shoot his own son?" Ethan asked in shock.

"Yeah, he didn't care if I was alive or dead, he never did." Richard said, now in a depressed state.

"Are you both okay?" Ethan asked,

"I'm fine." Richard replied.

"So am I." Tera said.

"Good, I'll see if I can get any of the cops from this town to arrest this man. Will you two watch him while I go get them?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, just don't take too long." Richard said as he looked down to the unconscious man on the floor.

He still had the gun in his hands and wanted to blow his brains out of his skull and stab him multiple times. The taste and sight of blood fuelled him, only his love for Tera stopped it.

"Alright, I'll be right back." Ethan said as he ran outside the cottage and to his car.

Richard and Tera could hear the car starting and driving off; Richard stuffed the revolver into his pocket. Richard looked around the cottage, it was a dump, beer cans and playing cards were scattered on the floor, the couch was green or at least it looked green but it was hard to tell with about fifty different stains covering it, there was a table and a small sized TV in front of the couch.

Richard saw a framed photograph on the table which looked out of place in the room. He picked up, it was a picture of his mother, he remembered his father saying that it was her that wanted to keep him, and he wondered if she was any different than his father.

He didn't know why but he felt like there was something more to this photograph. Tera looked on as Richard took apart the frame and held the picture of his mother in his hands. He looked on the back of the picture and his eyes widened as he saw the small message left on the back of it.

'Richard, the doctors tell me that I won't survive giving birth to you but I don't care. Your father wanted me to get an abortion but I won't do it. I want you to know that I love you and I will always watch over you. Don't ever feel alone, find happiness and live your life.  
-Mia, your mother.'

Richard's eyes leaked with tears, all these years he had thought that she had left him but now he knows that she willingly gave her life so that he could live. He felt his throat tightening as tears flowed down his cheeks and dripped onto the floor from his chin. He breathed in deeply as Tera approached him.

She didn't know what had came over him, all she saw was the man she loved in great emotional pain, and it reminded her of her the night she lost her clan. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly; Richard did the same although the tears did not stop flowing.  
For Richard it felt like all of the pain and suffering both emotional and physical was being slowly drained out of him as he held Tera closely and cried his heart out. "Sh-she gave her life for me." Richard blubbered as he sniffed slightly.

"And I never knew!" Richard felt like he was swallowing a brick as he cried into Tera's fur. She had never seen Richard let out this kind of emotion ever. She frowned and her ears flattened. All she could do was comfort him as long as she could.

As a mercenary Richard was trained to be a hardened killing machine but all that training just broke away when he found that note on the back of the picture left by his mother, Mia.

Richard cried out all the pain inside him until there was nothing left, the thing that hurt him the most was knowing that he has a mother that loves him but knowing that a picture would be the closest that he would ever get to her, he would never get to know what she liked or hated or anything else about her.

But at least he knew that he was wanted after all and he wasn't just some mistake. Richard cried until he couldn't cry anymore, he was thankful that Tera was there for him, he was thankful that she comforted him when he needed it most.

Richard let go of Tera and wiped away and tears that were still trailing down his face. Richard thought that he must look like a real mess to Tera. "I'm sorry." Richard said weakly.

Tera gave a heavenly smile and wiped away one tear that was still trailing down his face. "You have nothing to be sorry for." She sincerely said.

A smile grew on Richard's face, Tera always made him feel better when he was depressed or sad about something. Richard looked at the door leading to another room in the cottage; he assumed it was the bedroom. "Can you watch him while I take a look a look around?" Richard asked whilst pointing to the unconscious man.

"Okay." Tera answered sweetly.

Richard walked over to the door that probably led to the bedroom and slowly opened it. He looked around the room; he saw three beds each with a double barrelled shotgun besides them, a window and a large wardrobe. Richard could clearly see something wasn't right here, he guessed that if there were three beds then their owners would probably show up too.

He walked over to the shotguns and checked their barrels, they were all loaded, and he took out their shells and placed them back next to their beds. Richard's eyes then went to the wardrobe; he opened it and instantly wished he hadn't.

He saw a green jacket with an emblem on its shoulder, a customized knife colored in black with a golden Seviper wrapped around its handle on a white background. Richard knew that emblem well and he knew the customized knife even better, the emblem was a symbol of part of Silas' private army, the slavers.

"shit... my father is a fucking slaver." Richard angrily whispered to himself. He noticed that there was only one jacket in the closet which meant that either the other two are either wearing theirs or they are just grunts but either way, this situation was fucked up.

Richard took the revolver out of his pocket and pulled the black pin under its barrel to check the cylinder. 5 rounds left, he pushed the cylinder back into the revolver which then made a little metallic click.

Tera looked to the door and saw Richard, who now had a look of disgust on his face, walking out of the bedroom. "Are you okay Richard?" Tera asked.

Richard looked over to Tera then back down to the unconscious man on the floor. "I can't believe that I'm related to this … thing. This slaver."

Tera had a shocked expression on her face. "He's a slaver?" she asked.

"Yeah and there's three bed's in that room. That means that they're probably going to show up soon, and we'll have to be ready for them." Richard said as he looked down to the revolver in his hand.

Tera was worried for Richard; he had almost got himself killed trying to save her and that was only 2 days ago. "Richard, promise me that you won't get yourself hurt again." Tera said, her voice filled with concern.

Richard looked back up to Tera, he could understand that she was worried about him; he was worried about her too. "Don't worry; everything's going to be alright. I promise." Richard said as he gave her a quick kiss on her forehead.

Hearing Richard say that made her feel safer, but then she heard something. Shouting.

Richard heard it too; he quickly made his way over to the bedroom window. He saw to men shouting at each other, coming from the snow covered forest at the back of the cabin.

Although they were far away Richard could still clearly see that they were wearing slaver jackets, he looked at their hands but he could see no visible weapons but he guessed that they were carrying revolvers too.

Richard knew what he was going to do, wait till they were fully out in the open and then arrest them, or at least try to. Although he felt like just shooting them right there, he had to remember that he was still a deputy and then meant he had to try to take them alive.

"Tera, stay here. I have to stop these men, but I'll be right back. I promise." Richard stated as he stroked the side of her beautiful face, he hoped he could live up to his promise.

"I'm not leaving you Richard, I'm coming with you." Tera said.

Richard didn't know how to feel, happy knowing that she would willingly follow him into danger to protect him or terrified knowing that he could loose her because she followed him.

He knew that he would never be able to change her mind, if she asked him to stay behind in a situation like this so she could fight off the two men on her own, he wouldn't. "Come on then, let's take these guys down!" Richard said with confidence despite how he really felt, terrified.

Richard and Tera quickly exited the cabin and made their way around the side of the house. They both pressed their backs to the log walls of the cabin, Richard was taking point. He heard the shouts getting louder.

"You fucking knob head, if you had taken him alive you could have gotten about ten grand! Do you know how much good fighters are worth down in the yard?" One voice shouted.

"He was too fucking good! If I didn't shoot him he would have ripped my fucking throat out!" Another voice replied.

Their voices sounded close, Richard quickly turned to Tera and whispered. "Now."

Richard snapped around the corner of the cabin and leveled his gun at one man and Tera moved besides him and lit up with some kind of blue energy, her aura. "Police! Freeze!" Richard shouted.

The men looked in shock as they saw a man with a gun and an angry looking Lucario. The slavers were both out in the open with no visible cover. Both men reached for their guns, Richard saw this and instantly fired upon one man.

There was a loud bang and the slaver gripped his shoulder and he felt the bullet shattering the bone but he still stood. Richard fired another two rounds into his right leg, the first bullet hit the slaver's thigh and the second bullet was lodged into the slaver's kneecap.

The slaver collapsed in the snow, shouting in pain. Richard shifted his aim and saw the other slaver aiming a 9mm semi-auto pistol directly at him. Richard suddenly saw a flash of blue energy as an aura sphere was launched at the slaver.

The slaver dived to his left, he felt the heat of the aura sphere passing over him, he hit the snowy ground and shot at the Lucario and man. A bullet struck the wall of the cabin just besides Richard's head; he ducked down and grabbed Tera by the arm to drag her back into cover.

Tera looked at Richard as if asking him, 'What do we do now?' Richard just stayed behind the wooden wall of the cabin, until he heard the slaver crying out in agony.

Richard didn't know if it was the slaver that he had hit that was crying out in pain or the other one, the cries and shouts of pain filled the air for a solid five seconds, after that there was nothing but silence. Richard took a quick glance around the corner, he saw the downed slaver that he shot with a look of shock on his face.

Richard looked to the left and couldn't believe what he saw, the other slaver was now a corpsical, and he was frozen solid. The frozen slaver looked as if he was grabbing his chest with one hand and aiming his gun at something with the other hand.

Richard saw something running towards the frozen man, something small and blue, it kind of looked like a fox but he couldn't make it out properly. The blue fox thing jumped up at the frozen man and bit into his neck, Richard heard both the crunching of ice and the slaver's wind pipe. The slaver's neck shattered and his head fell onto the snowy ground and split in two, releasing tiny pink ice shards.

The fox like creature then looked directly over to Richard with its big blue eyes. Richard didn't move but he gripped his gun tightly, ready for anything it tries. The creature then entered what looked like a defensive stance, like Richard, it was ready for anything he tries.

Richard knew what this type of Pokemon was although it looked different than the others he had seen, it's a Glaceon. Its body seemed a lighter color of blue than he saw on the others during his travels and battles but that didn't matter now.

The Glaceon stared at the human and his gun, it had heard him say that he was with the police but didn't know if that was true. They stared at each other until they heard a metallic sliding sound, The sound of the slide on a 9mm pistol being pulled back to load one bullet in the chamber.

The Glaceon looked to its left to see the downed slaver pulling up his gun towards its head. The Glaceon was caught off guard and soon a gunshot rang out throughout the landscape.

**Author's note: Wanna thank Infinity Warrior for adding alot to this chapter and correcting the spelling and punctuation. I also wanna thank Hironada for giving me some cool ideas, correcting some more spelling and punctuation and for the use of his Glaceon character :3**


	19. Meet the Glaceon

The Glaceon watched blood spray from the side of the slaver's head, he now lay motionless on the snowy ground with blood slowly seeping out of a small hole near his ear. The Glaceon then looked at the human holding the revolver.

Richard lowered the revolver in his hand, he had just saved the Glaceon and they both knew it. Richard knew that it wasn't a good idea to start a fight with a creature that could freeze him solid in about five seconds so he tried talking with it, he hoped that it would be friendly.

"I don't know why you're here, or who you are, but, thanks for the help." Richard stated as he stuffed the revolver back into his pocket.

Tera had no idea who he was talking to; she was still pressed against the wall. Tera walked out of cover and stood besides Richard, she gasped as she saw a Glaceon standing next to a frozen headless human.

Richard saw the look of shock on her face. "Are you okay Tera?" Richard asked with concern.

"Yes, I'm fine." Tera replied, still keeping the shocked face on.

The Glaceon saw the concern in the human's face for his Lucario, it was strange, and the Glaceon didn't think that humans really cared for Pokemon. The Glaceon also noticed that the Lucario was wearing a silver necklace with a miniature sword hanging on it.

'Odd.' It thought.

Richard looked over to the Glaceon; it was hard to believe that something so small could be so powerful. Richard wanted to communicate with the Glaceon but he knew that all he would hear would either be whines, grunts or a constant repeat of its name. "Can you translate what the Glaceon is saying for me?" Richard asked Tera.

"Sure." Tera responded with a small smile towards Richard.

Richard wondered what to ask the Glaceon first. "Were you hurt during the fight?" Richard asked the Glaceon with a bit of concern in his voice.

The Glaceon wondered why the human would care, but it answered anyway. It thought 'what harm could be done?'

The Glaceon replied with what sounded like whines to Richard but sounded crystal clear to Tera. "She said that she's fine and she asked who we are and what we are doing here." Tera translated for Richard.

'She?' Richard thought to himself. Didn't seem like a she to him by her hostility to him. He shook the thought off, on account of the answer of the question.

"My name is Richard and she's Tera. I came here to find my father, I did but… Let's just say that it didn't turn out as well as I hoped." Richard mumbled the last part as he looked back to the cabin.

The Glaceon let out some more whines which Tera then translated. "She asked if you're a deputy." Tera said.

"Yes, we both are. We were supposed to be in work today but the sheriff… My friend, he told me that I could find my father here." Richard answered.

The Glaceon was a little confused as to why he would be looking for his father but she decided not to ask him about it, she let out a few more words that sounded like 'Glace Glaceon'. "She asked if you knew who those men were." Tera translated.

"Yes, slavers. I was going to arrest them but they decided to reach for their guns and I had no choice but to shoot." Richard recollected. He thought for a moment.

Richard didn't regret shooting the slavers one bit, they were stationed outside of a city so that meant that they targeted people leaving and entering Rustboro. They would have continued taking people if Richard and Tera had not found them.

Richard could see that the Glaceon was about to ask another question but she was cut off by the sound of sirens. "Looks like Ethan is… OH SHIT!" Richard said as he charged over to the cabin, he remembered that he had left his father unconscious and he could have woken up by now. Richard made it to the cabins front door and opened it by violently kicking it once, he was relieved to see that his father was still there, still unconscious.

Tera and the Glaceon were right behind Richard. "Who's that man on the floor?" The Glaceon asked Tera.

"That's Richard's father." Tera said, not wanting to say any more.

"Why is he bleeding and unconscious?" The Glaceon asked.

"Because Richard knocked him out when he tried to shoot him." Tera replied.

The Glaceon didn't know what to say, so she just stayed silent.

Richard looked outside and he saw three police cars pull up, one was Ethan's.

Ethan stepped out of his car and walked over to the group of three that he now saw in front of him. "Who's this?" Ethan asked obviously meaning the Glaceon.

"She helped us take down one of the slavers." Richard said.

"Slavers?" One of the cops said in a confused tone.

"Yeah, this must have been their outpost." Richard replied.

'Take down?' Ethan thought to himself. "What happened to the slavers?" Ethan asked.

"They pulled out their guns when I was going to arrest them, I shot one and the Glaceon here took out the other." Richard answered.

Ethan looked at the Glaceon; it was hard to believe that something as innocent looking as it could take down a slaver. Especially something a little cute. "Well then I guess I should thank her for helping out my deputies." Ethan stated with a smile.

One cop went inside the cabin to slap some cuffs on the now unconscious slaver and drag him to his squad car. The other three cops went around the back of the cabin where they found a man with four bullet holes in him and a frozen headless slaver, which, the cops found creepy as hell.

Richard knew that this was going to be a long day. He had just found out that not only did his father not care about him but he also wanted him aborted and he was a slaver working for the man he despised most in the world.

But it wasn't all bad, he also found out that he had a mother that loved him and by taking out the slavers the world was now a little safer. The thing that made this day seem brighter to Richard knew that Tera would always be there when he needed her, he was also glad that he was able to keep his promise to her. That may have been the only thing that ever kept Richard going these days. He knew it and would openly admit it if he had to.

"You know that we're going to have to head down to Rustboro's police station now right?" Ethan said.

"Yeah, might as well head down there now." Richard said as Ethan headed back to his squad car.

Tera wrapped her arms around Richard, drawing him into a heartfelt hug. "I'm glad you're safe." She gently whispered into his ear. Richard held her close and whispered, "I'm glad your safe too." into her pointed ear.

The Glaceon looked the hugging human and Lucario, she was surprised at how close they were and how much the Lucario trusted the human. It made her feel slightly sad and lonely, seeing how close and how much they cared about each other; she had never felt that before.

Richard let go of Tera and looked over to the Glaceon who had a look of sadness and loneliness on her face, he knew that look well. "Are you okay?" Richard asked the Glaceon.

The Glaceon let out a few more whines. "She says she's okay." Tera answered for her.

Richard knew that she wasn't, something was bothering her. He wondered what the Glaceon was doing in the middle of nowhere anyway, that's when it hit him. "Do you have anywhere to go to? Like a home?" Richard asked curiously.

The Glaceon let out a single whine that sounded like, 'Glaceon' for Tera to translate. "She says no." Tera translated.

Richard then looked over to Ethan who was sitting in the driver's seat, Richard then looked back to the Glaceon. He couldn't just leave the homeless Glaceon here, not after seeing her risk her life to help out both himself and Tera. "If you want, you could come with us." Richard said.

The Glaceon was surprised by his offer, she didn't trust humans but this one seemed different, he saved her life and the Lucario seemed to be very trusting with him so he couldn't be a bad person, especially not if he's also a deputy. A few seconds passed before she gave her answer in the form of a few more whines which sounded like 'Glace Gla Glaceon'. "She said yes, she would." Tera answered for the Glaceon.

Richard smiled a little. "Come on then, we have to head down to Rustboro's station first but after that we're heading back to Ethan's place." Richard said.

Ethan was sitting in the car, just reading some old book that he had long forgotten. The passenger side door opened and Richard sat down besides him, Ethan was a little confused, he always sat with Tera in the back.

Ethan then heard the one of the doors in the back closing; he looked in his rear view mirror and saw Tera and the Glaceon sitting in the back. Ethan didn't bother to ask why she was tagging along; he knew the answer would be a long one.

4 hours later.

After some questioning at Rustboro's police station they were now all back in the car, on their way to Ethan's place. Richard had convinced Ethan to let the Glaceon stay at his place. Tera and the Glaceon had begun talking in the back of the car.

"My name is Tera, do you have a name?" Tera asked in a friendly tone.

"My name is Kiara." The Glaceon replied.

"Nice to meet you, and thanks for helping us back there." was Tera's reply.

"It was nothing really, those men deserved it." Kiara said.

Tera then wondered why Kiara was even there in the first place. "How did you find us in the middle of nowhere anyway?" Tera asked.

"I was just looking around for berries when I heard a gunshot close by, I went over to where I heard the gunshot and I saw the cabin. I waited for a while and then I saw two men talking about capturing people and killing somebody. I was going to kill them both when you're… What is that human to you anyway? Is he your trainer?" Kiara asked with a curious look on her face.

Tera wondered if she should tell her or let her find out for herself, she decided to just get it out of the way now. "No, he's my …" Tera wanted to find the right word or thing to say, that's when she thought back to what Richard said to his father. It brought a smile to her face when he said those words. "Soul mate." Tera said with a big smile on her face.

Kiara was a little shocked and surprised. 'Is it really possible that the human and Lucario love each other? How could she trust the human enough to say that he's her soul mate?' Kiara asked herself in her mind. "You... love the human?" Kiara asked, just to confirm what she had just heard.

"Yes, I love him so much." Tera stated as she looked over to Richard.

Kiara saw how much Tera admired Richard in her eyes, she envied her.

"We're here." Ethan said as the car came to a stop.

"Lets go, I'll show you around the house." Tera said happily.

They all got out of the car and headed for the front door.

The Zangoose looked behind her to see Ethan, Richard, Tera and a Glaceon enter the room. The Zangoose had seen a Glaceon before but this one looked different, besides the fact that its left ear had a small triangular piece missing from the side of it.

The Glaceon's body was a much lighter color of blue, almost white; its paws were blue as the end of its tail and a patch on its back.

"Sorry we took so long but we ran into some problems." Ethan apologized to the Zangoose; he knew that she didn't like being left alone.

The Zangoose nodded, meaning that she forgave him.

Tera introduced Kiara to Zangoose. "Kiara, this is Zangoose."

"Hi." The Zangoose said in a happy tone.

'Zangoose?' Kiara thought to herself, she didn't ask why she doesn't have a proper name. "Hi." Kiara responded.

Meanwhile…

Richard was now in the kitchen with Ethan, there were still a lot of questions that he had been meaning to ask him but he forgot when he got caught up in his own thoughts of meeting his father for the first time. "How did you get the information on my parents?" Richard asked.

"I got Mac to hack into some old files; he brought up a bunch of stuff fairly quickly and just printed them off." Ethan answered blankly.

"Wait, Mac is a hacker?" Richard asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Yeah, he's a man of many uses. I don't know where he learned all the stuff he can do but I'm glad he can do them." Ethan replied, sounding like he was still shocked.

"Did you two know that he was a slaver?" Richard asked.

"Hell no, if we did then I would have arrested him myself." Ethan said.

"Good. I'm just going to watch TV, it'll probably take my mind off things." Richard said in a low grumbling tone as he walked towards the door.

"Wait." Ethan called out to Richard.

Richard stopped a few inches away from the door and turned to face Ethan. "What?" Richard asked.

"Well now that Glaceon is here…. Where is she going to sleep?" Ethan asked

Richard hadn't thought about that when he was convincing Ethan to let her stay but he had already thought up an answer. "She can take my room; I'm probably not going to be sleeping in there anyway."

Ethan had a good idea as to why Richard wouldn't be sleeping in his room. "Okay then." Ethan stated as he followed Richard out of the kitchen.

Richard looked over to the couch and saw the Zangoose, Glaceon and Tera standing around and laughing. He was glad to see that they seemed to be getting along with the Glaceon.

Tera saw Richard and walked over to him.

"Hey, are you and the Glaceon getting along?" Richard asked.

"Yeah, Kiara is smart and funny." Tera said with happiness in her voice.

"Kiara? Is that her name?"

"Yep. Anyway, do you want to watch something with us?" Tera asked.

"Heh. Yeah lets watch something." Richard said as he was led by Tera over to the couch.

2 weeks later.

Richard's eyes opened and he saw the most beautiful thing in the world, Tera asleep. Richard slowly sat up and tried not to wake her, but he did. Tera opened her eyes and looked at the man she loves, everything seemed perfect today, but maybe that was because it's Christmas.

"Merry Christmas." Richard said as he gave Tera a long wet kiss.

"Merry Christmas to you too." Tera said once they finally pulled out of the kiss.

Tera let out a yawn, one that made Richard think that Tera was an angel for. Her fangs were showing and her eyes looked sleepy.

Richard didn't want anything for Christmas; he already had everything he wanted. "Come on, let's head downstairs and get our gifts." Richard said with enthusiasm.

Richard got up even though he was only wearing boxer shorts, he slowly opened Tera's door and checked to see if anyone was in the hallway, he saw no one so he quickly made his way to his room.

Kiara decided not to take Richard's room because she preferred sleeping outside where it's cold. He quickly grabbed some clothes from his wardrobe and put them on. After that Richard and Tera quickly went downstairs where they found Ethan, Zangoose and Kiara. There was wrapping paper all over the floor.

Richard could see Kiara eating from a basket full of pecha berries; Richard got her that because he remembered Tera telling him that Kiara liked them.

Tera sat down besides Zangoose who was now wearing a thick red sweater that had a Pikachu sitting on top of a snow covered tree on the front of it. Seeing her in something so silly made Tera giggle.

Zangoose was a little confused. "What's so funny?" it asked.

"Oh, nothing." Tera said innocently.

Zangoose looked down to her sweater. "It's the sweater isn't it?" The Zangoose asked as she frowned.

Tera let out a small giggle. "Yeah, it's just so silly but I love it!" Tera exclaimed with a big smile on her face.

A grin grew across the Zangoose's face. "Oh really? Then you're going to love this!" Zangoose happily said as she took out a red pointy velvet hat with a fluffy white ball on top of it and gave it to Tera.

Tera happily put it on and the fluffy white ball bobbed up and down in front of her face.

Richard walked over to the couch and saw Tera with the hat on. 'Aww, she's so adorable.' Richard thought, he let out a chuckle as she tried to push the fluffy white ball away from her face.

"Here, let me help you with that." Richard said as he pushed the fluffy white ball to one side so it was no longer dangling in front of her face.

Tera gave a little smile and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Richard replied to her as he sat down besides her.

13 hours later.

Ethan was now more than a little drunk. Richard's gift to Ethan was a very strong drink, eighty percent alcohol, and he realized that there was no way he could finish the bottle on his own. Not in one day anyway.

He gave Zangoose one very small shot glass with his drink in it when she asked if she could try it, the result, one passed out Zangoose sprawled out across the couch. Ethan had to catch her when she passed out and he banged his elbow off the floor pretty hard but the alcohol numbed any pain he felt and he said he was fine.

Richard and Tera were still sat on the couch, snuggling up to each other for comfort and warmth. They had spent the day just talking to each other about gifts and other stuff that wasn't really important. Tera's gift to Richard was very nice and very expensive looking camera which he then used to take a picture of Tera who was smiling and standing by a window with a nice view.

Richard's gift to Tera was a very expensive and very old wine which Tera decided to save for a 'special occasion'. Which Richard knew what the 'special occasion' was going to be.

Kiara still had a basket full of pecha berries but she just couldn't eat them all, not yet anyway. Kiara was thankful that she even got a gift from them after knowing them for only about 2 weeks, she was glad that she decided to tag along with the two humans, Lucario and Zangoose, they all seemed like nice people.

Richard couldn't wait to get to bed; he just loved cuddling up with Tera under the covers of the bed. Richard whispered into Tera's pointed ear "Let's go to bed." he said gently.

Tera looked up at Richard and with a smile she gave a little nod. Tera was still wearing her silly red hat with the fluffy white ball.

Richard and Tera stood up and made their way back to her room.

Ethan knew it was getting late so he gently picked up the passed out Zangoose and carried her up to her bedroom. Ethan gently placed her on the bed and pulled the covers over her so she wouldn't feel cold.

Ethan smiled at the sight of the Zangoose shifting around to get comfortable, he liked spending time with her, even if he couldn't understand what she said. He cared for her, but he didn't know if that caring feeling inside him was just a friendly feeling, or something more.

Against his better judgment, he gave the Zangoose a small kiss on the top of her head and said, "Good night." and then left her room. He walked back downstairs with mixed feelings about how he thought of the Zangoose, part of him felt like it was best if they just stayed friends, part of him wanted to just hug her and tell her that he thinks of her as more than a friend.

Every time he saw Richard and Tera hugging or kissing, he just thought 'what if that was me and Zangoose? Could we be just as happy as they are?' he sat down on the couch and thought about it all night.

Richard stripped down to his boxer shorts again and climbed in bed with Tera, he hugged her and held her close, enjoying the heat that came from her body and the feeling of her soft fur on his skin. He wanted to make love to her again, to feel her around him. But he knew that the others would hear and it would probably get… Awkward.

"You know, you look really cute in that hat." Richard said as he looked deeply into Tera's eyes.

Tera gave an adorable smile as drew him into a deep and loving kiss. They made the kiss deeper and began to slightly rub each other slowly.

Tera wished they were alone in the house so they could just how much they loved each other without having to worry about somebody hearing them or walking in, but she settled for staring deeply into Richard's eyes and giving him long passionate kisses.

They closed their eyes as the hugged and fondled each other throughout the night; they soon fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

**Author's note: Merry Christmas, happy holidays and all that other stuff to my wonderful readers! wanna again thank Infinity for adding awesome details to this chapter as well as correcting spelling and punctuation. Also thank you to Hironada for the use of your Glaceon character Kiara and also for spelling and punctuation edits :3**


	20. A new year

_6 days later…_

Richard and Tera were now sitting in the police station office, excited about New Years Day.

"Are we going to watch the fireworks Richard?" Tera asked hopeful that the answer was yes.

"Yep, I think the others are too." Richard replied cheerfully.

"Even Kiara?" Tera asked.

"Yep, I guess she's coming out of her shell a little more now." Richard stated with a smile.

"That's good. Anyway, what are we going to do after the fireworks?" Tera asked with curiosity in her voice.

A devious smile grew across Richard's face, he had everything planned out.

"Well the others will be going to some kind of party, but I know you don't really like that kind of stuff so I was thinking maybe we could just stay in the house together, alone. We could also still watch the fireworks from the house so we won't be missing much, apart from the silly countdown that is." Richard suggested happily.

Tera returned that devious smile, she had been waiting to get some alone time with Richard. "That sounds great!" Tera exclaimed as she drew Richard into another hug.

Richard rubbed her back a little as he hugged her, no matter how many times they hugged or kissed he could never imagine getting tired of them. Richard's hands went a little lower down Tera's back and Tera's paws went a little lower down his.

Their lips met as their hands and paws went a little lower to caress each other's butts. Everything around them seemed to just disappear as they expressed their love through their actions.

They were finally alone, and able to let their suppressed hearts out.

Richard kissed Tera's slender blue furred neck, he kept one hand on her butt and the other he placed on the back of her head.

Suddenly, the office door flew open; Ethan and Zangoose casually walked in to find the Lucario and human hugging and kissing. It took at least five seconds before Richard felt somebody's eyes on him, he slowly withdrew from the kiss to look over his shoulder, and he was a little startled to see Ethan and Zangoose looking on.

Ethan chuckled a little as they quickly released their grip on each other. "Sorry if I'm interrupting, but, Mac wanted to talk to you." Ethan told him as he suppressed a few more chuckles.

"Err, yeah... just how long were you two there anyway?" Richard asked as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"Long enough to know that I should knock next time." Ethan jested with a smirk.

Tera was a little annoyed that they had to come in at that moment. "You could have at least coughed or something." Tera almost threatened with an added hint of annoyance in her voice.

"I know and I apologize genuinely, anyways… I'm going to patrol the streets before this gets even more awkward somehow." Ethan said as he left the room with Zangoose.

Ethan looked down to his Zangoose friend. "Well… I wasn't expecting that, were you?" Ethan asked.

The Zangoose's response was a shake of her head.

"Eh, well we should probably get back to patrolling the streets anyway." Ethan stated as Zangoose nodded in agreement. That day, Ethan could not stop thinking about his relationship with Zangoose; a massive part of him told him that they were just friends…

Yet, there was still a small part of him, the part that bugged him, that wanted her to be more than that and its slowly eating away at him. He knew that a relationship with a Pokemon wouldn't be easy, Richard and Tera make it look easy but a relationship with a Zangoose would be different.

There's the communication barrier, even if Zangoose told him that she loves him it would be nothing but whines to him.

Meanwhile…

Richard's eyes traveled from the door to Tera who looked a little angry. "You know, you look really cute when you're annoyed." Richard observed with an added grin. 'Then again, she always looks cute.' he thought to himself.

Tera cracked a little smile. "You really think so?" Tera asked as she crossed her arms and tried her best to sound annoyed.

Richard couldn't help but chuckle a little at the sight of her trying to look imposing. "Oh yeah, but where were we now before we were interrupted?" Richard playfully asked her.

"I think we were right… Here." Tera remembered as she wrapped her arms around him and drew him into another passionate kiss. Richard had a feeling that today was going to be great.

_3 hours later…_

Richard and Tera had already gone to talk with Mac; he just wanted to talk about the set up of the fireworks and the potential dangers, that and the fact that twice as many fireworks as expected had arrived.

Mac had told him that he would be setting off the first lot of fireworks at 10 pm and the rest at midnight. He talked to him about other stuff too, all very boring and unimportant stuff, but now it was almost time to see those fireworks in action.

Tera had found a spot in the forest from which they could see the fireworks; there were trees all around them, but none of them got in the way of the view. Richard sat down on the grass with Tera, the ground was damp and cold but they leaned against each other slightly, keeping each other warm with their body heat.

Ethan and Zangoose were sitting a little further away from Richard and Tera. Ethan had kicked all the questions about him and Zangoose out of his mind, for now anyway.

Zangoose looked to Ethan; he had been avoiding eye contact yet was talking a lot more with her. She knew that something was on his mind; she just wished that she could ask him what he was thinking.

Kiara was sitting in between the two groups, looking more than a little bored. She started to curl up into a ball as they awaited the fireworks display.

Richard had wondered if Tera, Kiara or Zangoose had ever seen a fireworks display before. "Have you ever seen fireworks before?" Richard asked Tera.

"No, never in my life." Tera replied. She stared at him for a moment, waiting for a reply.

"Well then just so you know, they can get a little loud." Richard stated, he didn't want her to be frightened or startled when the fireworks were set off, although it would have been nice, her holding on to him.

"Thanks for the warning." She said sweetly as she smiled and wrapped one arm around Richard's waist and held him tightly, Richard did the same.

Richard smiled when he felt her grip on him, he always liked being close to her.

There was a sound, the sound of a small rocket being launched into the air.

All their eyes went up to the sky as they saw a small rocket that left a trail of yellow sparks behind it. Tera, Zangoose and Kiara looked up in amazement at the unfamiliar object that was going higher and higher into the sky.

The rocket burst open to release a magnificent white light that shimmered in the night sky.

The lights sparkled in Tera's eyes; she loved every moment of the fire dancing in the sky and all the glittering it left behind.

It took a second for the sound of the blast to reach their ears. Kiara jumped when it did, her frozen pale blue fur stood on end. Kiara quickly relaxed when she realized that the loud banging sound was not a gunshot or anything threatening.

Richard was the only one who noticed Kiara jump, the others were just staring up into the sky as rockets and colorful shimmering orbs were launched into the sky. Richard chuckled for a moment.

Ethan looked to his left to see Zangoose looking up at the bright lights. Ethan watched as Zangoose's face lit up with the color from the fireworks, he couldn't stop thinking about how pretty she looked; he could even see some of the fireworks reflected in her big pink eyes.

Zangoose turned to Ethan who quickly looked away when he realized he was staring. 'Was… was he just looking into my eyes?' she thought to her self.

Ethan quickly went back to looking up to the sky, he was a little worried that Zangoose had seen him staring at her but also at the same time, he wanted her to catch him looking at her, so she knew how he felt.

He looked back to Zangoose again, he saw her quickly look away from him and stare into the sky that was lit up by fireworks of all different shapes and sizes. Ethan could barely swear that he saw a pink tint on the Zangoose's face.

Richard and Tera leaned on each other; looking up to the sky and watching those rockets and orbs burst and explode into colors and sounds, each one different from the other. Tera had never seen anything like it before. "These fireworks are really pretty." Tera told Richard.

"Not as pretty as you." Richard replied with a grin.

Tera blushed a little at the compliment. "Thank you." she giggled with an impish smile.

Richard looked at his beautiful blushing Lucario. "Heh, your welcome." he said as he gave her a quick kiss on her cheek.

Kiara couldn't keep her eyes off the exploding lights, she liked everything about them, the way they shimmered, their glow, the way they sound different. She couldn't understand why the humans were so casual about the fireworks 'they're amazing!' she thought to herself.

Tera cuddled up to Richard and snuggled into his neck. Richard noticed this and hugged her with his left hand rubbing her head.

_1 Hour Later…_

The first lot of fireworks had ended and now Richard and Tera were back in Ethan's place. Ethan himself was at the New Year's party, along with Zangoose and Kiara who was reluctant at first to come along to the party but eventually agreed to join them.

Richard let out a sigh of relief when he closed the front door and looked to Tera behind him. "Well we're finally alone together." He stated with a smile

"At last." Tera added as she planted a small wet kiss on his lips.

"Come on, let's go to bed." Richard suggested as he held Tera's paw in his hand and led her upstairs to her bedroom.

They were now in Tera's bedroom; they both sat down on the edge of the bed and kissed each other deeply. Tera's paws rubbed Richard's back as she got lost in the passion, she had wanted this, she had been waiting for it, they both wanted to be with each other.

Richard placed his hand on her chest and ran his fingers through her fur until he felt a little nub, her nipple. He rubbed it gently with his thumb; it became harder as small moans escaped Tera's mouth. Hearing her moans and thinking about what was to come next got Richard hard.

Both Richard and Tera were already in the mood to make love but they wanted to prolong it.

Tera still kissed Richard passionately, enjoying the warmth of his mouth. One arm was wrapped around Richard's shoulder and her other paw slowly went down his chest, down his stomach and to his crotch.

Richard temporally pulled out of the kiss to take off his clothes.

Tera gave a devious smile when she saw the man she loved now completely naked, she laid on her back and spread her legs open.

Richard looked down to Tera's crotch and saw her little wet pink slit; the blue fur around it was slightly damp. He looked back up, into Tera's crimson eyes. He drew her into a deep and loving kiss, he placed one hand on the back of her head and the other near her little pink slit.

Tera placed both paws on the back of Richard's head and moaned into his mouth as she felt his hand rubbing around the lips of her pussy, teasing her. She felt her love juices slowly leaking out of her cunt as she became more and more aroused by Richard's constant teasing.

When Richard stopped kissing for a moment to pause for air, he enjoyed the lust filled expression on Tera's face. He quickly drew her into another kiss as his fingers now encircled her clitoris. Her moans became louder but still muffled as they kissed. His fingers went closer to her entrance.

They rubbed around the area until they hit her slit. Tera moaned out in pleasure. He begun to rub her vagina with two of his fingers, then proceeded.

Tera let out a gasp of pleasure when she felt two fingers enter her. She enjoyed the feeling of his fingers rubbing along the walls of her pussy.

Richard could feel Tera's cunt tightening around his fingers as she got wetter, he pumped his fingers in and out of her faster and faster.

Tera's moans grew more erratic as she came closer to orgasm. Richard could see that she was about to cum, so he drove his fingers as deep as he could into her pussy and massaged her clit with his thumb.

Tera let out a loud moan as she felt an overwhelming sense of pleasure shoot through her crotch area.

Richard felt her pussy clamp down on his fingers as they were drenched in her warm love fluids. Richard brought his hand up to his face, looking at the warm clear fluid, he couldn't help it, he licked a little off his fingers.

Tera was still on her back, recovering from the pleasure she just felt. She looked over to Richard and his hard cock. She wanted to make him feel how she felt. Tera pushed Richard onto his back and moved between his legs.

Tera placed one paw around his shaft and the other under his testicles. She slowly pumped him and gently fondled his balls as she saw precum slowly leak from the tip of Richard's manhood.

Richard felt Tera's hot breath on his manhood before he felt her wet tongue drag over the tip of his dick, he felt like he was close already but he did his best to hold it in.

Tera took the tip of his cock into her mouth and began sucking and stroking his length.

Richard let out grunts of pleasure as he felt Tera's tongue lick from the base of his cock to his tip before she took it back into her mouth again to start sucking. He knew he wouldn't last much longer. He watched her head bob up and down on his shaft as he enjoyed the feeling of her warm saliva all over his manhood.

Tera knew he was close by the sound of his small grunts of pleasure, she slowly licked the underside of his cock before reaching his tip again. She sucked hard and bobbed her head faster as Richard drew closer to his orgasm.

Richard placed a hand on the top of her head and stroked her as she brought him to his orgasm. As soon as he felt the first blast of cum leaving his cock, Tera had managed to get his entire length into her mouth and throat, she closed her eyes as she felt blast after blast of hot cum sliding down her throat, she took every drop before she started choking.

Tera quickly took her head off Richard's cock and started coughing.

Richard felt the extreme pleasure fade as he sat up and worried for Tera. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked as he patted her on the back.

"Yes, I'm fine... did you like it?" Tera asked with a smile.

Richard chuckled and smiled back. "Of course I did, you're amazing." Richard said.

Tera had a big smile on her face. "Only just realize that, now did you?" She said as she crossed her arms.

Richard tried to think of something snappy to say, but as he looked at her beautiful face, only one sentence popped into his head. It was the same sentence he thought every time he saw her. He placed his hand on the side of her face. "I... I love you so much." he said as he gave her a quick kiss on the end of her snout.

It warmed Tera's heart every time she heard him say that. "I love you too. But what do you love about me?" Tera asked curiously.

Richard didn't know why she asked but already a thousand answers popped up in his head. "I love your heavenly smile and laugh. I love the way you get cold easily and cuddle up to me for warmth." He started.

"I love your beautiful face and deep red crimson eyes, I get lost in them every time. I love your loving and caring personality; you make me feel happy even when I'm depressed. I love the softness of your fur when it meets my skin. I love your long pointy ears. I love everything about you; there is nothing I would ever want to change about you." Richard continued.

"Every day, I find a new reason to love you." Richard poured his heart and soul into everything he had just said but yet he could still easily give thousands of more reasons as to why he loved her so much.

Tera gave a big smile and her eyes seemed to light up, she knew that he meant everything he said. She felt like she had to tell him what she loved about him.

"I love that you have strong will and determination. I love how you think more about others than yourself; I don't think there is anyone more selfless than you. I love how you hug me and hold me tightly, you make me feel safe, and I know I'm safe whenever I'm with you." Tera begun.

"I love our sparring matches together; I know that you would never really hurt me. I love the way you rub the back of your neck when you're nervous, you look so cute when you do that. I love your face, your eyes, and your hair, I mean the way it's spiked up in the middle, and everything about you is just... perfect. I will always be there for you Richard, I will never leave you." Tera finished as she gave him a big kiss.

Richard let her tongue explore his mouth as his hands stroked her back. Richard felt like he was in his own little world when Tera pinned him down to the bed again by pushing down on his chest with her paws, he knew what was coming and soon became erect again.

Tera withdrew from the kiss which left a trail of saliva still connected to their lips, she sat upright on top of Richard and looked to his now stiff cock. Tera slowly lowered herself on to Richard's manhood, she let out a little moan of pleasure that got louder as she felt inch after inch of Richard's cock deeper in her pussy.

Richard felt her soaking wet cunt wrap around his manhood like a vice, he felt her love fluids dribble down his shaft with every thrust they made.

Tera began lifting herself up and down Richard's manhood, placing her paws on his chest to steady herself.

Richard looked to Tera's face to see the look of lust and love, Richard's hands slowly went from her shoulders down to her chest. He could feel two small nipples which he then began to rub and massage as more small moans left Tera's lips.

Tera enjoyed the feeling of Richard's hands massaging her little nubs as she sped up the pace and began lifting her self up and down Richard's cock faster. She was getting closer to her release and she wanted it badly.

Richard watched as Tera straddled his manhood, watching her enjoying the feeling of him inside her. Richard felt a rising sensation inside of him; he knew he was going to blow soon. Tera's hot wet cunt was driving him over the edge with every slight movement.

Tera felt an almost paralyzing sense of pleasure from her crotch, Richard felt the same but they kept humping until the pleasure was too much. A jolt of pure ecstasy shot through Tera and Richard as they felt their love juices flowing out of them.

Tera felt herself let go as she came, the sheer feeling of pleasure shot throughout her body as her cunt twitched and milked Richard, she could feel his warm thick cum inside her. Tera rested on Richard's warm sweaty body and panted a little.

Richard's manhood was still inside her, still inside her warm wet cunt which was now leaking with Richard's cum and her love fluids. Richard could hear her panting; he raised his head to see his Lucario soul mate breathing in deeply with a satisfied look on her face.

Richard rested his head back on the bed and stroked Tera's back with one hand and the back of her head with the other.

Tera's ears perked up when she heard several bangs outside, the sound of fireworks signaling the end of the year. She lifted her head to look over to the window which flashed with different colors.

Richard smiled to himself 'It's been a hell of a year, but I'm glad this is how it ends.' he thought to himself, he noticed Tera looking over to the window. "Do you want to watch the fireworks with me?" Richard asked.

Tera looked back down to Richard, the human that had captured her heart. "Yes, I would like that." Tera said with a smile.

_5 minutes later._

Richard sat on the ground outside with Tera, looking up to the sky and holding Tera close to him. He was only wearing his jeans so he felt more than a little cold. As he looked up to the sky and watched the exploding and shimmering orbs in the sky dance around, he thought about what would happen next. He then looked to Tera who's face lit up with a golden glow from the fireworks.

Richard thought about their future for sometime now, and he just wanted to show her just how much he loved her. "Tera, can I ask you something?" Richard asked nervously.

Tera looked back at him with a happy expression on her face. "Sure, ask away." Tera said.

Richard rubbed the back of his neck nervously "What do you think of... Err, marriage?" Richard finally managed to say.

Tera's ears perked up and she exclaimed, "WHAT?"

* * *

**Author's note: Again, just wanna thank Infinity Warrior for editing and adding to this awesome story and Hironada for the use of his awesome character Kiara and also you the readers, just because you guys and gals are awesome!**

**Oh yeah and i wish you a happy new year!**


	21. The answer to the big question

That wasn't the reaction Richard was hoping for; he just hoped she said it because she was surprised. "Marriage, what do you think of it?" Richard softly asked her.

Tera's eyes were now completely focused on Richard's eyes. 'Does he want to marry me?' a voice said inside Tera's head, she hoped the answer was yes. "I... I think it's a wonderful thing. W-why do you ask?" Tera asked nervously.

Richard thought about it for a moment and reminisced on the past events that they shared, everything from their first kiss, to making love. He almost was lost in his memories but stayed out of daydreams.

This was the present. Now, was the time.

She had thought about marrying Richard before, when she cuddled up to Richard she sometimes just got lost in the thoughts of what their wedding day would look like if they ever had one.

Now Tera didn't fully understand what weddings were about, but they always seemed to make people happy, or well, at least in the movies they both watched together.

It brought Richard relief when he heard her say that, he had been thinking about marrying Tera ever since the night he told her that he loves her. This eased his mind but his heart, still desired the answer.

He imagined her in a long flowing white wedding dress; he couldn't imagine anything more breathtakingly beautiful. He wanted to tell her another time but the moment just felt so right and life as a mercenary taught him some valuable life lessons, one of those was life is too short.

"I ask because..." Richard tried to find the right words, but he couldn't find them. He looked into Tera's deep red eyes; they seemed to glow as more fireworks shone a silver light on her face.

She looked like a goddess in Richard's eyes, he felt like his life would be complete if that he just lives the rest of it out with her. Richard took a deep breath and got ready to find those words he looked for and ask the question that he already knew the answer to. He continued from where he left off.

"Because, there is no one in the world that I'd rather spend my life with, I just want to make you happy." Richard said as he held Tera's paw in his hand. Tera looked at him with wide eyes, hoping that this was it.

Hoping, that this was going to make her forever happy. That this moment, this very moment, would be their salvation, and she knew it. His aura released it.

'Well, this is it. I'm going to ask her.' His voice said in his head. "Tera... Will you marry me?" Richard asked, as one drop of sweat slowly fell down his forehead.

Their hearts skipped a beat and time seemed to come to a halt. It felt like hours before Tera gave an answer, but it was really less than two seconds before she did.

Tera wrapped her arms around him and whispered into his ear. "Yes... of course I will." She replied as she held Richard tightly. Tera had dreamed about marrying Richard, and now she was one step closer to that dream.

Richard held her in his arms, he realized something at that moment, every time he thinks 'This is the happiest day of my life.' it's always because he's with Tera.

20 minutes later…

Richard and Tera were now inside the house, on the couch. They had been talking about getting married and telling Ethan, Zangoose and Kiara that they are going to be married. They were both blissfully happy as they talked, kissed, stroked and hugged each other.

This truly, was the best day of their lifetime. Richard, because of his past, and now marrying the woman, or Pokemon, that he loves. Tera, because she had fallen in love with him and he was he whole world to her.

Richard and Tera could hear Ethan's car stopping out side, they looked at each other as they heard the front door unlocking. Richard and Tera stood up as they saw Ethan, Zangoose and Kiara walk in.

Ethan and Zangoose look tired but happy, Kiara looked like she really enjoyed the party, and she had a big lively smile on her face.

Richard was the first to say something. "Hey, did you three enjoy the party?" Richard asked.

"Heh, it was alright. How was your night?" Ethan asked as he looked at Richard and Tera's happy faces.

Richard smiled as he answered him. "It was fantastic; in fact we have something to tell you all." Richard stated while he held Tera's paw in his hand.

"Really? What's that then?" Ethan asked.

Richard and Tera looked at each other before answering in unison, "We're getting married."

Kiara's expression changed from happy to amazed. She was amazed that Tera could love the human that much; she was also amazed that Tera could expect to rely on the human. Kiara had never trusted anyone that much, but she was happy for Tera and the human.

Zangoose had a big smile on her face, she knew that Tera truly loved Richard and she was happy for her. 'They look so happy together. I wonder if… Ethan and I could... Could...' Zangoose's voice in her head trailed off as she looked to Ethan.

'Do I... Am I in love with him? No, we can't be we... we're just friends... but the way he looked at me.' Zangoose wanted to know, she wanted to ask him, but she couldn't. It hurt her every second that she couldn't ask him.

Ethan had a smile on his face; he knew that this day would come. "Well congrats to the both of you! I know you'll both be very happy together." Ethan told them with both confidence and happiness.

Ethan had never been to a wedding before, although he nearly did. 'Dodged a bullet there.' Ethan thought to himself as he thought back to a time that wasn't very pleasant for him, in fact, it was gut wrenching.

Tera and Richard both felt a little more confident when they heard Ethan say that. Richard knew that Ethan would be supportive; he's a damn good friend. "Thank you." Richard said.

5 minutes later…

They were all sitting on the two couches and talking about what the party was like and the upcoming wedding. They were all a little sleepy with the exception of Kiara who didn't seem to get much sleep.

Tera had noticed something; Zangoose was looking at Ethan... differently. At one point she saw Zangoose stare at him for a whole minute before she looked anywhere else, she was obviously thinking about him.

Tera wondered if Zangoose felt the same way about Ethan as she did about Richard, after seeing her take another glance at Ethan the answer soon became clear to her.

20 minutes later…

Everybody got up to go to bed with the exception of Kiara who stayed on the couch.

Richard and Tera went into her bedroom again; they couldn't wait to fall asleep in each other's arms.

Ethan walked to his bedroom, Zangoose walked with him until she reached her bedroom door. "Good night." Ethan said politely.

Zangoose turned her head and smiled as she nodded forward once and opened her bedroom door.

Ethan opened the door leading to his bedroom and closed it behind him. Ethan sat on the edge of his bed and thought about one thing, Zangoose. He noticed her looking at him a few times; he remembered her cute blushing face when he did.

After Richard and Tera told them that they were going to get married, all questions of whether a relationship with Zangoose wouldn't work disappeared. 'Screw the speech barrier! We could make it work, I know we can.' his voice echoed in his head.

Ethan thought about his past relationships, they all ended badly and broke his heart a thousand times over. But he felt like Zangoose could mend his heart. He began to think that maybe some hardships in a relationship were good, after all everything seemed so easy in his previous relationships before they turned to shit.

Zangoose was different from all the women that he had ever met, besides the fact that she is a Pokemon. Ethan could not stop thinking about her furry red and white face, he could imagine touching her face, to feel her soft fur, he never thought that he would think of a Pokemon this way. 'I know we can make it work.' He thought.

Zangoose lay back on her bed, thinking about Ethan. 'I want to know! I want to know if he likes me or loves me!' her voice shouted in her head, she had never been this confused and frustrated before.

Zangoose wanted to find a way to ask him, but she knew that he wouldn't understand her. She wondered if she even looked attractive to Ethan, after all they weren't even the same species; the thought that she could look ugly to Ethan made her tear up in sadness.

Richard and Tera were in bed together. Tera was facing away from Richard, he had his arms wrapped around her and was gently pressing his groin against her butt. Tera slightly pressed her butt back into Richard's groin as she felt his manhood rubbing against her pussy and anus.

They were both starting to get aroused. Tera's pussy was getting very wet and she just wanted to stick his manhood into her.

They knew that they couldn't really make love right now, mainly because of the noise they might make, but that wouldn't stop them from quietly teasing each other until they fell asleep.

The next day…

Richard and Tera were once again happily patrolling the streets, normally it would be boring but they both had so much to talk about the wedding and besides, the streets were kind of peaceful. At least for the day, they were.

Zangoose decided to stay at the house with Kiara, this was one of the few times she didn't come with Ethan, and she didn't feel like going outside today, she just wanted to think. Kiara was watching the TV and pressing on the remote control with one of her front paws to skip through all the boring stuff until she found something she liked the look of, an action movie.

Ethan was at Mac's workshop, he had something to ask him, he wasn't expecting the answer he hoped for but he was still going to ask. Ethan walked into Mac's workshop and saw him toying around with something at the workbench. "Mac, I need to ask you something."

Mac turned around to face Ethan. "Oh, I wasn't expecting you. What do ya need?" Mac asked.

Ethan turned his attention to the object on the work table; it was a 9mm semi-auto pistol with a small flashlight and laser attached to it. "Guns now Mac? Your not going to start amassing an arsenal are you now?" Ethan said sarcastically.

"Heh, nope. Not yet anyway, Cleaves just paid me to make a few adjustments to his gun." Mac answered.

"Oh really? What did he ask for?" Ethan asked as he thought about what ridiculous things Cleaves might ask for.

"Nothing much, he just asked for a 'red dot thingy' and a flashlight attachment. He also asked if I could do something about his broken microwave but I told him that I like to work on one thing at a time." Mac said.

"So have you finished working on his gun?" Ethan asked as he scratched his head.

"Yep... well, nearly. I just need to tighten this last screw." Mac said as he turned to the workbench and picked up a small screwdriver to tighten the screw holding the small flashlight to the underside of the pistol. "There, now what did you want to ask me?" Mac asked as he screwed in the last bolt.

Ethan knew that even though Mac was the man to come to when it includes building highly complex stuff, even he doubted that he could make what he wanted. "I... don't suppose you could build a translator that can... Well, translate words… Could you?" Ethan asked, he was a little nervous that the answer would be 'impossible'.

"A translator? What language exactly do you need help translating?" Mac asked curiously.

"Pokemon speech." Ethan plainly told him.

Mac looked a little puzzled. "You do know that there are scientists still working on that kind of stuff right? Even if I knew how to build something like that, the pieces and materials would probably be very expensive." He told him.

Ethan's hopes of hearing Zangoose's voice as more than whines and repeats of her name just dropped significantly. "Well... could you still try?" Ethan asked with little hope.

Mac could see the look of disappointment on Ethan's face. "I don't have the resources or manpower to work on something like that, I'm sorry." Mac said with a small frown put upon his face.

Ethan didn't know what to say, knowing that he will most likely never have a conversation with her with out what she had to say or hearing what she had to say through Tera.

"I... It's not your fault. I'm just going to head back to the station now." Ethan said, he tried to hold back the sadness in his voice but a little of that still showed.

"Hey Ethan, if you see Cleaves then tell him his gun is ready!" Mac shouted over as Ethan left the workshop.

Later that day…

Richard, Tera and Ethan had finished their shift and were now back in the house. Tera was sitting on the couch with Richard when she heard Zangoose call out for her. "Tera, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Tera looked over to see Zangoose standing by the stairs. "Sure, I'll be right there." Tera replied as she got up off the couch and turned to Richard. "I'll be right back." Tera said sweetly.

Zangoose waited until Tera was close enough to whisper to. "Err, Tera. I want to ask you something... About Ethan." She began.

Tera gave a look that looked like she was raising an eyebrow. "What is it you want to ask?" she asked.

Zangoose had a nervous look on her face and she kept looking down to her paws and fidgeted with her claws. "Do you think Ethan likes me?" She asked, her eyes still concentrated on her fidgeting claws.

"Of course he does, he loves having you around." Tera said with a smile.

Zangoose had a sad look on her face. "I mean does he like me, like... Really like me?" Zangoose whispered.

Tera gave a knowing look. "You love him, don't you?" she asked, with a face that said, 'I know already.'

"... Yes, but I don't know if he feels the same way about me... And I can't ask him." Zangoose answered with a weak smile.

Tera looked at Zangoose's face, she looked upset. Tera wanted to cheer her up; she always helped her friends when they were upset about something. "Hey, remember when I asked you if you thought Richard liked me?" Tera asked.

Zangoose nodded. "I remember... So do you think Ethan likes me?" Zangoose asked, her hopes were raised a little.

Tera gave a grin and replied, "I think he does." Tera said as she remembered the exact words that Zangoose told her.

Richard was watching some action movie that Kiara picked out, he had to admit, and she had good taste in films. They were watching soldiers lobbing grenades into doorways and windows and then taking out the slavers inside, the film was based on a real war that happened about four years ago on some island between Kanto's armed forces and Silas' private army.

The film followed a group of soldiers that were sent in with the first wave, it was produced really well, plenty of action and emotional scenes between dying soldiers, lots of gore and a solid story line.

The soldiers in the film had just been given the order to pull out when they realized that the slavers tactics were too good and unpredictable, that's when Ethan sat besides Richard. Richard looked at Ethan's face; he couldn't remember him looking as depressed as he did now. "Something wrong?" Richard asked.

Ethan turned his head towards Richard; he knew that if anyone could understand his situation, it would be him. "Yeah, I... I just don't know what to do." Ethan grumbled.

Richard wasn't sure what he was talking about or if he even wanted to talk about it. "Do you want to talk about it?" Richard asked.

Ethan was hoping he would say that. "Yeah, follow me." Ethan said as he got up off the couch and made his way over to the kitchen so they wouldn't be overheard. Richard and Ethan now stood inside the kitchen. "Alright, here's the problem... I think I'm in love with Zangoose." Ethan said, he felt good saying it to someone other than himself.

"You think you're in love, or do you know?" Richard asked.

"... I know." Ethan said as he looked up to the ceiling.

Richard smiled but that smile quickly disappeared. "So what's the problem then?" he questioned.

Ethan let out a sigh before answering, "I was getting to that... How am I supposed to know that she likes me that way if I can't even hear what she's trying to say to me?"

Richard wanted to help Ethan; he knew that he wanted his help. "Ethan, sometimes nothing needs to be said to get how you feel across. You just need to show it." Richard said, hoping it would put Ethan in a better mood.

When Ethan heard Richard say that, he remembered all the times that Zangoose glanced over to him and stared at him with those big pink eyes. He imagined kissing Zangoose's lips; it pained him to think that may not happen just because of the communication barrier. "Yeah, your right." Ethan admitted.

"So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to tell her?" Richard asked in an encouraging tone.

Ethan smiled as he thought about telling her. "Yeah, I will... But I just don't know when." He stated.

Later that day…

It was now dark; Richard and Tera were standing outside in the forest. Richard was covered in dirt and Tera's fur was all messed up from the sparring match they were now engaged in.

Tera panted as she raised her paws to make up a fighting stance. "I'm going to beat you this time Richard!" She exclaimed as she tried to sound intimidating.

Richard smiled, no matter how she felt she always sounded so cute. "Hah, keep dreaming Tera!" Richard laughed right before he threw his fist at her.

Tera caught his fist with her paw and gave him a punch to the stomach.

Richard held his stomach with the other hand, he then felt his arm being yanked forwards and before he knew it he was being tossed over Tera's shoulder. He landed on the grassy ground on his back.

Richard lay on the ground as Tera walked over to him and extended her paw for him. Richard held her paw and was pulled up by her as he pushed himself off the ground. "How did you do that?" Richard asked, he didn't think that she had the strength to lift him off the ground but he guessed he should have known better by now.

"It was easy; do you want me to show you again?" Tera teased.

"No, no! You win already." Richard exclaimed with a chuckle.

Tera giggled a little before remembering something she wanted to ask him, "Do you know if Ethan likes Zangoose?"

Richard was an intrigued as to why she asked but answered anyway. "He does, why do you ask?" Richard replied with a question.

Tera gave a little smirk before answering. "Zangoose told me she likes Ethan." She told me.

Richard was glad to hear it. "I always did think that they would make a great couple." Richard said with a smile.

"So did I." Tera said with a pretty smile on her face.

Richard looked to his watch, it was getting very late. "We should probably get going back to the house." Richard said. They were only about two or three minutes away from the house so it wouldn't be much of a torture walking back.

"Okay then, its starting to get cold anyway." Tera said as she held Richard's hand in her paw and walked with him back to the house. The temperature dropped very fast.

Ethan, Zangoose and Kiara were sat on the couches, watching TV and eating when Tera and Richard walked through the door. "Hey, who won this time?" Ethan asked, he kind of saw him self as the score keeper.

"Me!" Tera happily exclaimed.

Ethan let out a chuckle, "Was it just luck again this time Richard?"

"Not this time, she's getting better." Richard admitted with a small smile.

1 hour later…

Zangoose, Tera and Kiara were still watching something on TV while sitting on the couch. Richard and Ethan were both in the kitchen; Ethan was looking around in the fridge for a beer.

Richard had brought him here because he wanted to tell him about something. "Tera told me something about Zangoose that you might be interested to hear." Richard said with a smirk.

Ethan stopped looking for a beer and immediately turned to Richard. "What did she say?" Ethan asked almost instantly.

"She said that Zangoose likes you." Richard replied.

Ethan knew that she liked him before but hearing it confirmed by somebody else but he made his confidence to actually tell her, grow a little. "Thanks for telling me, you want a beer too?" Ethan casually asked as he went back to looking for a beer in the fridge.

"Yeah, sure." Richard replied before Ethan tossed over a nice cool beer his way which he then caught.

Later that night…

Richard and Tera were now in bed together again, they looked into each other's admiring eyes.

Part of Richard still couldn't believe that he was actually going to get married; before he met Tera he never thought that he could ever lead a happy life. "You're so beautiful; I can't believe that I'm really this lucky." Richard said as he stroked the back of her head.

Richard always made Tera feel special, safe and loved. Tera loves everything about him. "I'm so glad I met you, I couldn't imagine living without you." Tera said, she meant every word she said. Tera stroked the side of Richard's face, feeling his warm skin on her paw.

Richard couldn't think of a better place to be right now, lying in bed with Tera was always the best part of the day for Richard. Then Richard's mind suddenly went to Ethan and Zangoose, he hoped that they could be happy as he and Tera are right now. All his thoughts were suddenly drowned out when he felt Tera's lips on his own.

Zangoose shifted about in her bed, she couldn't stop thinking about Ethan. Tera had told her that Richard said that Ethan likes her, which gave her a little bit of hope.

Every time she looked over to Richard and Tera, she always thought 'Could that be me and Ethan in the future?' she thought to herself. She knew that she couldn't speak to him so there would only be one way to tell him, through her actions.

She brought herself to sleep, dreaming about her and Ethan, kissing and telling each other 'I love you.' If only Ethan could understand the Zangoose.

Ethan lay on his back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He wanted to tell Zangoose how he felt, but he was just too scared to. He was afraid he was wrong about her, and he was afraid that she didn't like him in that way... But Richard seemed sure she did.

He knew the real reason why he was afraid, he was afraid that he'll get his heart broken again, and he couldn't take one more heart breaking. He thought about how painful it felt, like a piece of him was missing, he never felt complete after that. Ethan really hoped that Zangoose was different, he wanted to love again, but he was afraid of the pain.

There was only one way to find out.

* * *

**Author's note: I really wanna thank Infinity Warrior for adding to this story, even the smallest details can make a big change and Warrior just made a massive change :D**

**Also wanna thank Hironada for the use of his awesome character (Kiara) and also for the time he spent going through this and checking for any errors.**

**And another thanks to you guys, the readers. You're awesome!**


	22. The mission

Zangoose crept out of her room; she had a plan, a plan that would let Ethan know how she felt about him. She was going to creep into his room and wake him up with a kiss.

She was now at his bedroom door, she placed her paw on the knob of the door but she stopped her self from turning it, she suddenly lost all confidence in her plan and doubts filled her mind.

'I... I can't do it!' her voice shouted in her head, she knew she loved him but she just couldn't muster the courage to show him. She quickly stepped away from Ethan's door and ran back into her bedroom, sobbing as she did.

Ethan was awake; he was having a terrible time attempting to sleep. But there was a reason…

The next day…

Ethan's alarm clock rang out but he quickly slammed down the button on top of it to silence it, he slowly got out of bed and went over to his wardrobe to get his uniform.

He didn't get much sleep, he still couldn't stop thinking about Zangoose, he wondered if he should wait a little longer or just tell her that he loves her... Or at least that's how he feels.

He remembered a quote that he heard from somewhere, 'Sometimes, it is better to take a chance then to risk not knowing.' Boy, this quote was a motivational speaker for him.

Ethan got dressed and did his usual thing, woke up Richard and Tera, moved downstairs and into the kitchen for a quick snack but there was one thing different today. Zangoose wasn't downstairs; she was usually the first one up.

Odd.

Ethan wondered if something was wrong, she had been acting strangely lately. He thought that maybe she was sick, but part of him knew it was something else, either way; it seemed like a good idea to check on her.

He stopped looking for something to eat and headed over towards Zangoose's room; on the way there he saw Richard, who was now dressed in his uniform, and Tera heading downstairs. Ethan told them, "I'll be back down soon, just got to check up on something." And then continued to make his way over to Zangoose's room.

He was about to knock on the door when he heard some slight whimpers, it sounded slightly like crying. He knocked on the door twice. "Hey, are you alright in there?" Ethan asked with a worried tone in his voice.

There was no reply, Ethan was at least hoping for a sound, a knock, a repeat of her name, anything but silence. "I'm coming in... is that alright?" Ethan asked. He waited for a reply but there was none.

Zangoose buried her face in her pillow, she couldn't stop crying. She wanted to tell him, show him how much she liked him but she was afraid that he'd find her repulsive. Despite the reassurance from Tera, she still wasn't sure that Ethan liked her in that way. Her ears perked up when she heard the sound of the door opening, she kept her face buried in the pillow, she didn't want him to see her like this.

Ethan looked over to Zangoose who was lying on the bed with her face buried in the pillow, he couldn't tell if she was sick, hurt or just sleepy. "Are... are you alright?" Ethan asked with uncertainty in his voice.

Zangoose wanted to pretend that she was asleep, but she couldn't stop herself from looking over to Ethan.

Zangoose turned her head and it gave Ethan a chance to examine her face, usually he could just tell how she was feeling through her expressions. He looked at her face, her eyes looked somewhat bloodshot despite the fact they were already pink before, the fur around her eyes looked slightly damp.

'Has she been crying?' Ethan thought to himself as he looked at the pained expression on her face. "Is there something wrong? Are you sick?" Ethan asked concernedly.

Zangoose looked into Ethan's eyes, she wanted to tell him so badly that she loves him, she secretly always did have a crush on him but only when she saw Richard and Tera happily saying that they would be getting married did she realize that it was more than that. She snapped back to reality and shook her head left and right to answer Ethan's question.

Ethan took her little head shake as a 'no'. "Have you been crying?" Ethan asked softly.

Zangoose nodded in response.

Ethan wanted to know what could possibly make her cry, after all it seems like nothing bad has happened. "Do you want to try to tell me what you're crying about?" Ethan asked as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

Zangoose stared into Ethan's eyes in response, hoping that he would somehow get what she was thinking.

Ethan stared back into Zangoose's eyes; he couldn't help but think that she was trying to say 'You.'

"Were... You were crying over me?" Ethan asked cautiously.

Zangoose nodded again in response.

Ethan couldn't believe it, she was crying over him. "Why are you crying over me?" Ethan asked, part of him already knew the answer.

She knew there was only one way to tell him what she really thought about him, only one way to tell him why she was crying over him. Zangoose braced her self for what she was about to do next.

Before Ethan even knew it, Zangoose's lips were on his, he felt her tongue exploring his mouth. He didn't even get a chance to kiss back as it was over just as quickly as it started.

Zangoose stopped kissing Ethan and looked at the surprised expression on his face. 'What have I done?' her voice rang out in her mind. Suddenly she was filled with fear and regret; she was afraid that Ethan would storm off or shout, she was scared that he wouldn't feel the same way. More tears came to her eyes just thinking about it.

She moved slowly away from him, also fearing a fist to her body. She cowered under a pillow, her eyes slowly watching Ethan, for any type of punishment that was to come.

Ethan could see she was afraid and ready to burst into tears; he wanted to do anything possible to calm her down. Ethan slowly crawled over to her on the bed and gave her a big hug; he then rubbed her back and whispered into her ear, "Shh, you don't have to be afraid... I feel the same way about you."

Zangoose looked up to Ethan with a mixture of amazement and happiness in her eyes, 'He loves me?' her voice asked in her head. Zangoose's paws were now on Ethan's back, she hugged him with all her strength. She couldn't remember feeling this happy before.

Ethan felt strange, he felt something inside him that he hadn't felt for a long time, he didn't ever want that feeling to end.

Zangoose pulled away just enough to see Ethan's face; she quickly glanced at Ethan's lips before she gave him another kiss.

As soon as their lips touched, a jolt split down their spine, one not just of enjoyment, also one of love and passion.

Ethan moved his hands around her back and rubbed it, enjoying the warmth in her fur. Zangoose moaned softly and their kiss intensified two-fold.

With the Zangoose, she was in heaven; not only was she kissing the one she loved, but he admitted that he loved her. HE LOVED HER.

They both enjoyed this one, this one brief moment of love; for they may not have much time to do it, it may cause Tera and Richard would get suspicious.

Richard and Tera were downstairs on the couch; Richard looked at his wrist watch. "Almost time for our shift to start... That's strange." Richard said.

"What is?" Tera asked.

"Ethan isn't usually this late and Zangoose isn't down here... oh well, it isn't like I want to get to work anytime soon anyway." Richard chuckled as he slumped back into the couch.

Tera rested her head on Richard's chest, she knew that they would have to get up for work soon but she decided to just enjoy the spare time they have together.

They still hadn't decided on when they should have the wedding, but they both agreed that it should be in a couple of months time. Then, they could live happily ever after.

Richard wanted to save up enough money to make their wedding day something big, something epic. He wanted to show Tera just how much he loves her, because the words to describe how much he loves her just don't exist.

Tera didn't care if that the wedding wasn't like one of those she saw in the movies, she already has what she really wants, Richard. That was enough for her.

Richard felt like going back to bed with Tera, but he knew that Ethan would eventually come walking down those stairs and soon they would be patrolling the streets again.

Tera suddenly sat upright as her ears shot up. "Did you hear that?" Tera asked quickly.

Richard didn't know what she was talking about, so he stayed quiet and listened out. At first he couldn't hear it, but then he began to hear the sound of some kind of engine, some kind of vehicle coming towards the house. Whatever it was, it sounded big. Richard quickly got up and ran over to the window, Tera followed closely behind.

Tera watched as Richard's eyes scanned outside while the sound got closer; soon, they both saw the source of the noise.

The big bulky military four wheel drive car bolted up the driveway and came to a sudden stop. Its wheels were far apart, it was colored in a dark green and it looked heavily armored.

Richard and Tera watched as the car's roaring engine was switched off and out stepped three men. Two men were dressed like Richard was which made both Richard and Tera think what the hell was going on.

The other man was dressed in seemingly plain clothes, he looked like he was in his mid to late thirties and has short black hair that looked like it was spiked up with hair gel. He was wearing combat boots, green combat gloves which looked armored around the knuckles, dark blue jeans, and a black leather jacket with a dark blue shirt underneath it.

Richard noticed something, the man had some kind of earpiece, it was in his right ear and had a small black microphone attached to it which pointed towards the side of the man's mouth.

Tera looked over to Richard and asked, "Who's that?"

"I don't know but I'm guessing were going to find out, very soon." Richard replied as his hand slightly hovered over his pistol in his holster.

Richard and Tera stepped away from the window once they saw the men getting closer to the house. Richard was worried, and so was Tera, they were both worried about what could happen to each other if these men are after blood.

The plain clothed man stepped up to the front door of the house and knocked three times.

Richard looked over to Tera, he was going to tell her to wait some place safe... but then he knew that saying that would be useless. He knew that she would never leave his side, and he would never leave hers. "Tera, I'm going to answer the door, just be ready for anything." Richard told her as he walked towards the door.

Tera didn't like this at all, she felt like there was a knot in her stomach, last time Richard asked her to be ready she almost lost him.

Richard was now near the door, Tera was by his side, they were both ready to protect each other. Richard opened the front door and he came face to face with the plain clothed man.

Before Richard could ask who the man was, the plain clothed man extended his hand for a handshake and blurted out, "My name is Owen, I've heard much about you."

'He's heard much about me? From whom?' Richard asked in his head. Richard shook his hand. "Nice to meet you but... Why are you here? A better question, why are there two men in deputies uniforms behind you?" Richard asked bluntly.

Owen crossed his arms as he answered, "Well I'm here to recruit you and these men behind me are yours and Tera's replacements."

Tera had a confused expression on her face. "Wait, how do you know my name?" She asked.

Owen was about to answer until Richard spoke up. "Okay, let's just get to the point. Why are you trying to recruit me, how do you know so much and just what do you do?" Richard asked, he knew something bad was going to happen eventually and if it was then he just wanted to get it over with.

Owen could see they didn't like being kept in the dark, so he answered quickly. "I'm on a mission, but I can't complete it alone. I'm gathering team of the best, and you're one of them. I know so much because I have four different Regions backing me and my mission, and they always keep me up to date with new intelligence. As for what I do, well most people call me an agent so I guess that's what I am." he stated.

Hearing that just made more questions spring up in Richard's mind. "What mission could possibly be important enough to earn the support of four Regions?" Richard asked with suspicion.

Owen let out a sigh as he got ready to explain. "We recently got information that Silas is getting ready to launch his biggest assault yet, this time its not just a slave grab, he's actually going to try take over a region." Owen explained.

Richard had an annoyed look on his face. "It's taken four regions over ten years to join forces and they are only doing it because they finally realize that he is aiming to take over a region? Wasn't it enough that they were grabbing innocent people and turning them into slaves?" Richard said in a clearly annoyed tone.

"If they had sent their armies over to kick Silas' ass ten years ago instead of arguing with each other then he wouldn't be a problem today!" Richard almost shouted. Regions have sent their armies to deal with Silas before but they were never united, political differences and other reasons like espionage blinded them from the real threat.

The regions thought that Silas was a problem that they could easily take care of, but they underestimated just how powerful his forces were.

Owen knew that everything he said was true. "I know that the politicians and generals are too thick skulled to know what's going to come back and bite them in their asses, but all that matters right now is that they have decided to end this." Were his first words.

"We're going to find Silas, and we're going to kill him." he added. "But I can't do this on my own, I still need you to join the team that I'm building up, also, I'd rather continue this conversation inside the house if you don't mind." Owen suggested as he looked behind him to the two deputies and over the hills in the distance.

Owen hated being out in the open, there were too many potential vantage points that a skilled sniper could easily take advantage of.

Richard was hesitant to let this man in, he kept thinking about how Owen could have been sent by Silas to kill him. He figured that if he wanted to kill him then he would have already tried by now, but still, he would still watch him very closely. Richard didn't want to take any chances, not when he had Tera to think about. "Come on in then." Richard replied in a feigned friendly tone.

Owen stepped in side the house, as did the two deputies. Richard closed the door behind them and walked over to a couch with Tera. Richard and Tera sat on one couch together and Owen and his two deputies sat on the other couch.

Richard still had lots of questions, and he planned on getting them all answered. "Why are you picking me for your team? Surely there are other people out there who have better fighting skills than I do." Richard asked.

"Your the only living person who has ever came close to killing Silas, the dossier also said that you have team skills and incredible fighting skills. It's true that you are no super soldier but somebody seems to think that you are invaluable to the mission." Owen told him.

"Especially the fact that you are also the only one to injure him and live." He added.

This brought back terrible memories for Richard, he remembered his friends, who's faces were now only just blurs inside of his mind; blurs that he wished would not come back.

'Wait, team skills? And he knows about my encounter with Silas?' Richard thought to himself. "How exactly do you plan on taking down Silas?" Richard voiced the question that was on everybody's mind, excluding Owen.

Owen sighed before he answered, "Well we already have Kanto's, Johto's, Hoenn's and Sinnoh's armies at our disposal, but that still may not be enough. Even if we launched an attack on all of Silas' bases and outposts and won, our armies would be destroyed and we could end up leaving ourselves open for attack by some new threat. Besides, there would be no guarantee that we could kill Silas in the process."

Richard then gave a confused look. "Wait, you said you were building a team, it sounds more like you need to build another army." Richard said.

"With the people we're gathering, we won't need to." Owen said with a smirk. "So, can I count on you to join me?" He asked hopefully.

Richard had been waiting for another opportunity to kill Silas ever since they met. Richard looked over to his side, over to Tera. It didn't take him long to come up with an answer. "No." Richard told him firmly.

Owen's disappointment showed in his expression. "Why not?" he asked.

Tera looked over to Richard and smiled, she knew the reason.

Richard looked back into Tera's eyes, no matter how many times he looks into her eyes he always feels a warm loving feeling deep inside of him. "I'm getting married, with Tera. I'm not going to go off on some mission that could get me killed just for revenge, I have something to live for now. I never want to leave her behind anyway." He stated as he looked back over to the agent on the couch.

Owen was afraid that would be his response, but he was ready for this situation. "If you want to live long enough to get married then I suggest you join me." he said.

Richard gave Owen a very angry look. "What do you mean by that?" Richard threatened as he felt his hands balling up into fists.

Owen could see that Richard had taken it in a threatening way. "I'm not threatening you if that's what you're thinking. Here, take a look at this." Owen said as he reached inside his jacket pocket, pulled out a few papers and handed them over to Richard.

Richard and Tera looked through the papers together; they were both shocked by what they saw. Troop numbers, a list of weapons that Silas has now equipped his private army with, and more importantly, the name of the region they will attack first. 'Hoenn.' Images of Silas' army coming in and destroying the place they now called home and killing the people they had befriended in this town rushed through their minds.

Tera knew there was only one way to stop that from happening. "Richard, we should help this man." Tera nudged as if urging Richard to agree with her.

Richard knew she was right, but he really didn't want to put her in danger... but it seemed that either way, they would still be in danger. "I know... fine, I'll join you Owen."

"And so will I." Tera quickly chipped in.

Owen wasn't expecting both of them to come along although he did know that was a possibility. "Excellent, also I need to speak to Ethan about your temporary replacements so you won't have to worry about coming back from a mission and ending up jobless." Owen said with a very faint smile.

As if on cue, Ethan and Zangoose walked downstairs. Ethan with his hair ruffled, and the Zangoose, with a big smile on.

Ethan held Zangoose's paw in his hand, he enjoyed the feeling of being close to someone again, even if that someone is a Pokémon. Ethan looked over to the couch to see three men he had never seen before, two of them were wearing deputy's uniforms. "Who are these guys and why are two of them wearing deputy's uniforms?" Ethan asked confusedly.

Richard knew this was going to take a lot of explaining.

5 minutes later...

Richard, Tera and Owen explained the situation clearly. They told Ethan and Zangoose about the mission and the replacements for Richard and Tera for when they leave for the mission, Owen seemed keen to stress the importance of the mission.

Ethan and Zangoose felt sorry for Richard and Tera, they were going to get married but now they are risking their lives on a mission to save more lives.

Owen had told them that the recruitment mission begins tomorrow and he would be back in the morning. He also told them 'his men' are protecting the town so it wouldn't be necessary for Ethan, Richard or Tera to go to work today.

Richard and Tera were now watching Owen and the two deputies heading back to the car. Owen stopped in his tracks and walked back over to Richard. "I almost forgot to give you something." Owen said as he took something out of one of the pockets on his jacket and handed it over to Richard.

Richard looked at the small black object in his hands; it looked like the same earpiece Owen was wearing. "What's this?" Richard asked.

"It's a communicator, it will allow you to talk to anyone using this same type of synched device, and it will also allow you to hear what Pokemon are saying." Owen told him.

Richard had a surprised look on his face. "How long has this thing been around for?" Richard asked.

"About 3 years now, they were expensive at first but our scientists found ways to make them cheaper. Only top agents and a few others have clearance to use this type of tech right now but sooner or later somebody will make this available to civilians. Technology like this doesn't stay secret long." Owen stated.

Richard looked at the earpiece; he decided to try it out straight away. The device hooked around his ear, it wasn't as uncomfortable as it looked. "Thanks." Richard said.

"Your welcome, the device isn't synced to mine yet so we won't be talking to each other through it but you can still hear what Pokemon are saying. Anyway, I'll see you both tomorrow." Owen said as he walked back over to his very large armored car, climbed in and started the engine.

As Owen pulled away, Richard noticed something, Kiara. She was hiding behind a tree and watching Owen pulling away. "Were you watching them all this time?" Richard asked.

"Yes, can't be too careful." Kiara answered.

'Wait, did I really just hear that?' Richard thought to himself. "Yeah, your right." Richard said, sounding as casual as possible.

Kiara gave an expression that was a mix between surprise and confusion; she wasn't actually expecting a reply from him. "You can understand me?" She asked.

"I can now." Richard said as he tapped twice on the communicator on his right ear. "Come on; let's get back inside the house. It doesn't look like were going to work today anyway." Richard said as he walked back inside.

3 minutes later.

Tera, Zangoose, and Kiara were sat on the couches all talking about one thing, the mission that Richard and Tera were now going to take on. They all knew that this mission was probably going to be very dangerous but Zangoose and Kiara agreed with Tera's decision to take on the mission with Richard.

Richard was in the kitchen with Ethan, if he was going on a mission that's likely to kill him then he wanted to repay Ethan for being a good friend. "Ethan, take this." Richard said as he placed the communicator in Ethan's hand.

Ethan looked at the black device in his hand; he remembered that Owen guy was wearing something like this. "What does this do?" Ethan asked.

"Remember when you told me about the communication barrier between you and Zangoose? Well, this should break down that barrier." Richard said with a smile.

Ethan looked down to the small object in his hand, that's when he suddenly realized what it was, but he couldn't believe it. "Is... Is this a translator?" Ethan asked cautiously.

"Yes, it'll translate anything Zangoose says. I've already tested it myself; it translated what Kiara had to say." Richard said.

Ethan couldn't believe it, after hearing Mac say he couldn't do it he had given up any hope of hearing Zangoose's voice as more than whines and repeats of her name.

But, now thanks to Richard and that Owen guy, he could finally ask Zangoose everything he wanted to and hear her answer those questions, just thinking about being able to understand her filled him with joy. "I... I don't think I could ever repay you for this." Ethan stated.

Richard could see this meant a lot to Ethan. "You don't have to, it's the least I could do after you gave me and Tera a job and took us in to your home." Richard said happily.

Ethan couldn't help but smile, he couldn't wait to hear her voice. "Thank you... so; you and Tera are really going to go ahead with this mission thing then?" Ethan asked.

Richard let out a sigh, "I don't want to but it seems like Owen really needs my help, and if my help keeps Silas and his army of shit-heads from taking over Hoenn and enslaving its entire population, then I'll do it. I just wish that this mission didn't put Tera in danger." Richard told him as his smile slowly faded.

Ethan knew Richard felt worse than he looked, Ethan had heard Richard and Tera continuously talking about the wedding day, and he thought about how disappointed they must be now that they have to hold off the wedding to complete some mission that could kill them both. "What will you two do when you complete the mission?" Ethan asked.

Richard hadn't thought about that, his mind was far too busy worrying for Tera. "Well, I'm hoping I can just continue working as a deputy, and of course, get married. After that, I don't know what, but as long as I have Tera by my side, I know everything will work out." Richard happily told him.

Ethan thought that it must be a hard time for Richard and Tera right now. "I hope it does." Ethan responded.

Richard was about to leave the kitchen, but then he remembered something, he remembered Ethan and Zangoose holding hands when they came down the stairs. He just had to ask. "Have you told Zangoose about how you feel about her yet?" he asked with a knowing smile.

A smile grew across Ethan's face as he answered. "Yes, I did. But she was the one to tell me first." he replied.

Richard was sure that when he said 'tell' he meant 'show'. "Good for you two." He told him with a smile.

10 minutes later...

Ethan was now in his room and sat on the bed, with Zangoose. He called her up to his room so they could be alone, and so he could finally hear her voice.

Zangoose did not yet know about what the earpiece he was now wearing does. Ethan got ready to tell her that he could understand what she was saying now. "This thing on my ear, it's a translator. It will translate what you say, so you won't have to keep and nodding or shifting your head to say yes or no all the time anymore."

Zangoose looked at the black device on his ear, she thought about what to say, what her first words to Ethan would be. Zangoose looked into Ethan's hazel eyes and put her paw on the side of his face as she pressed her lips against his.

They kissed lovingly, enjoying the warmth of each other's mouths until they had to pause for air, that's when Zangoose said her first words to Ethan. "I love you." Zangoose's elegant voice rang in Ethan's ears.

Ethan felt like he was complete again, that missing piece inside him was no longer missing. Ethan didn't say anything, this time he just kissed her, saying 'I love you' through his actions.

The silent role was played once again.

30 minutes later...

Ethan and Zangoose stayed in bed with each other, they didn't want to be anywhere else. Ethan finally got to ask her the questions he wanted to ask her, he wanted to know more about her. "Why is your name Zangoose? That's kind of like me being named human." Ethan asked.

Zangoose never really thought about her name before. "Well that's what my trainer called me." She answered.

Ethan had a puzzled look on his face, he had suspected that she lived with humans before but this was the first time he had heard that she once lived with a trainer. "You lived with a trainer?" Ethan asked.

Zangoose smiled when she thought about her trainer. "Yes, she was really nice to every body but... she passed on." She told Ethan as the smile faded from her face.

Ethan put a hand on her shoulder and asked, "I'm sorry, how did she go? I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

It was hard to talk about for Zangoose, but she wanted to tell him, if she wanted to love him, she couldn't keep secrets. "She had an illness, it was terminal... Whatever that meant. I stayed with her until she passed on. She took care of a lot of us Pokemon, we felt like we owed her so we helped her with all the things that she couldn't do." Zangoose said as tears started to form in her eyes.

Ethan rubbed her back to calm her; he hated to see her so upset. "I'm sorry I brought it up, we don't have to talk about anything you don't want to."

Zangoose felt comfortable around Ethan, like she could tell him anything. "It's fine... I want to tell you." She said.

Ethan was glad to hear that, he wanted to learn more about her. "Alright, what did you do after she passed on?" he asked.

Zangoose cuddled up to Ethan as she told him what she did next. "When she passed on there was no reason to stay around there anymore, so I decided to travel. I lived on the berries I found in the forest and took shelter under thick trees or inside caves but I always missed living inside a house."

Ethan quickly figured out that must have been why she was scratching at Derick's door. "Hey, how would you like a new name?" Ethan asked.

Zangoose smiled. "I'd like that." She said as her smile grew.

Zangoose and Ethan talked about names for what felt like an hour until they both found a name that they both liked. "Lucy it is then." Ethan said.

Zangoose's face lit up with a bright smile although she knew the name was going to take some getting used to.

"I love you." She told him. Her sweet voice was like candy for a kid to Ethan, he would never get used to it, because it was so good.

Meanwhile...

Richard was still on the couch with Tera who was talking to Kiara. He couldn't stop thinking about the mission, and Owen, he didn't even know if Owen was really telling the truth about anything.

He thought about ripping out his throat if he was lying to them just to get some of his dirty work done.

Richard wondered what the hell is going to happen next, in these past few months he's been in war zones, lost his only friend, fell in love, became a cop, found out about his parents, he was going to get married, but now that would have to wait, and now he's just been told that he's been selected for a team to bring down Silas, the most powerful and dangerous man in the world.

'What's next? Will the whole world come crashing down?' A voice in his head asked himself. Richard didn't mind putting his life on the line to protect others, but he knew that Tera worried for him like he worries for her.

It all seemed so unfair, he was just starting to lead a happy life with the woman, or Pokémon, he loves, its all put on hold for a mission. Richard knew that this may be the last 'normal' day they spend together.

Richard's mind went from the mission to the communication device he gave to Ethan; he wondered what excuse he could make up for no longer having it.

He didn't really care if they didn't take him on the mission because he gave away the device, he felt like it was the right thing to do, besides part of him hoped that they wouldn't take him on the mission.

Richard snapped out of his deep thoughts when he heard Tera and Kiara giggling, hearing Tera's giggle made him smile, although he did wonder what they were giggling about.

5 hours later...

Ethan was just coming out of the bathroom when he saw Richard coming out of his room; he had swapped his deputy uniform for jeans and a black T-shirt. "Hey Richard, just want to thank you again for the translator but wont you get into trouble for giving it to me?" He asked.

"We're putting off our wedding for this; I don't care if he doesn't like it. You need it more than I do anyway. So, I guess that means the device translated what she had to say then." Richard replied.

"Yep, I was talking to Lucy all day. I had no idea how much we have in common." Ethan told him with happiness in his voice.

"Lucy?" Richard said in a confused tone.

"Oh, that's her name now. I think it suits her." Ethan stated with a smile.

"Yeah, I think so too. You know me and Tera always did think that you two make a cute couple." Richard said with a grin on his face.

"Heh, me and Lucy thought the same about you two." Ethan replied with a chuckle.

Richard quickly remembered that he wanted to talk to him about Owen. "You know that Owen guy; do you really believe he's working for four regions?" He asked.

Ethan thought about his answer for a second before he replied. "I think I believe it, couldn't see any tell tail signs in his voice or body language but I think you should still keep a close eye on that guy." he replied.

"I will." Richard said sharply.

1 hour later...

Richard and Tera were once again in the forest on top of a rather large hill, they weren't there to spar, and they just wanted to be alone together for a little while.

They were both sat on grassy ground and looking at the peaceful view, the sun was setting on the horizon, it lit up the forest in a light green color and the hills far off seemed to be a dark blue, the sky its self was a mixture of a orange-pinkish color.

Tera rested her head on Richard's shoulder. "Richard, when we leave for the mission, when do you think we'll come back here?" Tera asked softly.

Richard didn't quite understand what she meant. "You mean back to this spot, or back home?" Richard asked, it slipped out, but he really did feel like his home was Ethan's place.

"Back home." Tera said quietly.

"I don't know... I just hope it's soon." Richard said.

Tera snuggled up to Richard as he wrapped one arm around her waist. They both watched the sun slowly disappear before gazing into each other's eyes and lovingly kissing each other.

Midnight.

Richard and Tera were now in bed, silently sleeping.

Kiara was outside; she wasn't sleepy, not yet, so she looked out for anything suspicious. She wasn't expecting anything to happen but it was always good to be prepared.

Ethan was in his bed, he usually felt lonely when he fell asleep... but not tonight. He looked to his right, and there was Lucy, quietly sleeping.

He looked at her furry red and white face, he thought that he could never love anyone again after his breakup with his last partner, but the Zangoose sparked something inside him, something he couldn't quite describe... But it felt really good.

They could relax… For now, at least.

* * *

**Author's note: Again I wanna thank Infinity Warrior for editing and adding to this story and Hironada for taking the time to correct spelling and that stuff ^^**

**Also thank you to UBE Chief for suggesting the name 'Lucy' for Zangoose :3**


	23. First class

The next day...

Richard and Tera were downstairs, waiting for Owen to show up again. Kiara, Ethan and Lucy were waiting with them to say their goodbyes. They all heard the roar of the big armored military car's engine as it came closer to the house.

Richard opened the front door and saw the car stop just outside the house.

Owen stepped outside of the car and saw Richard and Tera standing at the front door, he realized that he was probably ruining their lives by bringing them on this mission, but a lot more lives could be utterly destroyed if he didn't bring them on this mission.

He looked back inside the car and grabbed something, a green military backpack. Owen then walked over to Richard and told him, "Take this, pack up anything you think you might need and come back when you think you've got everything you need."

"Alright then." Richard replied as he headed back inside with Tera.

"Don't forget the vests Mac gave you!" Owen shouted over.

'He knows about that too?' Richard's voice in his mind asked as he headed upstairs. Tera went into her room for her bullet proof vest; Richard went into his room for the vest, a change of clothes, his combat knife and a photograph which he then stuffed into the large military backpack Owen gave him.

Richard left his room, taking one last glance at it before he closed the door. Tera walked over to Richard with her vest which she then gave to him to stuff into the big military backpack.

Owen was leaning on his car, waiting around for Richard and Tera. He felt like someone was watching him, he looked behind himself but he couldn't see what was watching him.

Paranoia can be a bitch sometimes.

Ethan saw Richard and Tera coming down the stairs, they were leaving to take on the mission. Ethan was going to be sad to see them go. "This place is going to be a lot quieter without you two around." he stated.

Richard looked back over to Ethan and told him with a smile, "Hey, it'll only be quiet for a short while; we're going to be coming back."

Ethan knew they were going to be coming back, but still, he was going to miss them. "I know; just stay safe you two." He said.

"You too Ethan." Richard replied as he walked out of the front door with Tera, with them holding each others hands at the same time.

Owen pushed himself off the car he was leaning on when he saw Richard, who was now wearing the big military backpack, and Tera. "Are you both ready?" Owen asked.

Richard and Tera nodded in response.

"Where's your ear piece?" Owen asked, the question obviously directed at Richard.

"Somebody needed it more than I did." Richard spat plainly, he wasn't going to lie.

Owen wasn't really bothered about the communicator; it wasn't too costly to make a new one anyway. "I doubt that, but here's a new one... just don't give this one away, you won't be given another." he replied with a scolding tone to his voice as he handed a new communication device over to Richard.

"Alright." Richard said as he hooked the communicator device around his ear. It fit perfectly, just like the other earpiece, which was great.

"We should move; there are dossiers on our recruits on one of the back seats." Owen commented as he opened up the driver side door and climbed in.

Richard was about to open the back door when Kiara shouted out, "Wait!"

Kiara quickly jumped on the hard armored bonnet of the car and jumped over to Tera and Richard. "I'm coming with you two!" She quickly commanded.

Tera gave a confused look. "You want to risk your life on this mission with us?" Tera asked.

"Yep, I can fight and I can't think of a reason as to why I shouldn't help you. So, can I come?" Kiara asked.

Tera looked over to Richard, who then gave his response. "I don't see why not, it sounds like we're going to need all the help we can get anyway. What do you say Owen?"

Owen looked at the Glaceon before giving his answer, "She can come."

Kiara gave a smile before she followed Richard and Tera into the back of the car.

Richard looked around the interior of the car; it didn't just look big on the outside but big on the inside too. There were three seats at the front, another four seats directly behind the front seats that were facing the opposite direction and another four seats at the back.

The dossiers were on one of the seats at the back. Richard, Tera and Kiara sat in the back seats. Richard now had the dossiers in his hands, he looked out of the window of the car and saw Lucy and Ethan standing at the door of the house, he wondered when he would see them again.

Ethan and Lucy looked on as the car's engine roared to life and the car began to move, they both waved at their friends in the back of the car as it moved down the dirt path and out of view.

Ethan looked down the dirt path that the car traveled down. "I'm going to miss them." Ethan thought out aloud.

"Me too." Lucy added as she looked up to Ethan.

Ethan looked over to Lucy who now seemed to be staring into his eyes, he wanted to spend the day alone with her but he still had to do his job. "Come on, let's get to work." Ethan said while he closed the door behind them.

"Can't we wait until later?" Lucy suggested in a seductive tone that sent good picture into Ethan's mind. "I wish, but we got to keep these streets safe." He told her.

Lucy made a pout noise and Ethan chuckled. "Come on." He stated.

Lucy walked over to Ethan's car with him; she enjoyed watching him working to keep people safe.

Richard looked at the supposed dossiers now in his hands; he didn't open them just yet because there were still some questions on his mind that only Owen could answer. "Where are we going to?" Richard asked.

Owen didn't take his eyes off the dirt road, but he still answered, "We're heading back into town; there is somebody there that may be vital to the mission."

"Who?" Richard asked.

"Look in the dossier entitled 'The hacker'." Owen responded.  
Richard looked through the dossiers, scanning their titles as he did. 'The war hero. The Avenger. The sniper.' those were the titles of the ones he saw before he finally reached the one entitled 'The hacker.'

Richard opened up the folder and a look of surprise soon showed in his face. Inside it was a picture of Mac and a list of personal information.

'The hacker.'

Recruit number: #0039

Identity: Daniel 'Mac' Macintyre

Age: 32

Information: Worked as a hacker for a specialist team in the Kanto armed forces from the age of 22 to 27.

He has also worked with people outside of the Kanto armed forces such as special agents #177 and #98. He is rumored to be the greatest hacker that ever lived and his technical expertise is vital to this mission.

He now spends most of his time working and helping out the people of his hometown, he is known to have had contact with recruit candidates #2777 and #2778.'

Richard stopped reading when he wondered how many candidates there were, and if 'Candidates #2777 and #2778.' meant himself and Tera.

Tera glanced over to the folder in Richard's hands when she saw the surprised look on his face, her eyes widened when she saw the picture of Mac, with two other men, inside the picture. "Mac used to be in the army!" She exclaimed.

Owen heard her, he felt like filling them in seeing as Mac seemed to be their friend. "Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if he never told any of you; most of his missions were classified under order of, E836 Omicron. I actually worked with him once, but that's all I'm authorized to tell you." Owen added the last part with a little anger in his voice.

Richard looked out of the window, he daydreamed a little as they drove through the forest and into the town. He daydreamed about fighting for his life again, like he did when he was a mercenary. It seemed like this mission would be a dangerous one, anything involving Silas was dangerous.

10 minutes later...

The car soon came to a stop outside of Mac's workshop, Owen climbed out of the car, as did the others. He quickly made his way into the workshop, Owen quickly scanned the room and immediately saw Mac at his workbench, it didn't look like that Mac knew they were there. "Mac." He said quickly.

Mac looked over his shoulder to see a familiar face. 'Is that... aw, shit!' Mac thought to himself as he turned to face the agent he once worked with. 'Last time I saw this guy he had a stick up his ass, I hope he's friendlier this time.' his voice said inside his head.

"Agent, something's wrong if your here, what do you want?" Mac said as he then looked behind Owen and saw Richard, Tera and Kiara. "And might I ask why are they behind you?" He asked in a clearly confused tone.

Owen didn't want to waste anytime to answer his questions, but he knew if he wanted to recruit him he'd have to. "We're taking out Silas and we need your help to do it. These three have already agreed to become part of my specialist team that I am building up, but I still need you on my team. I've seen what you can do, and you know that you could save lives in this mission. So, will you join us?" He asked.

Mac knew it would be useless saying no, they would get him to help somehow. "Fine, you can have your people call me when the mission, operation, whatever starts. There are still a few things I have to do around here... also what's that in your ear? It doesn't look like a standard comm." Mac pointed out.

Richard answered for him, "Apparently it's a communication device and translator, what it translates you ask? It translates whatever Pokemon are saying."

Mac had a look of amazement on his face. "And it actually works? Oh shit and I told Ethan it would be near impossible. There goes my credibility." He said half jokingly.

Owen wasn't surprised that even Mac thought that it would be near impossible; it took a lot of researchers countless years to come up with a device like this. "We'll contact you when the time is right." Owen said as he turned to leave the workshop.

Mac watched Owen walk out and the others about to follow, he ran over to Richard before he could leave. "Wait." He said as he placed a hand on Richard's shoulder. "Keep a close eye on that man; I don't think I can trust him." Mac told him with a trace of suspicion in his voice.

Richard wondered why he would say something like that, but he was going to watch Owen very closely. "Don't worry, I'll watch him." Richard responded.

5 minutes later...

Owen, Richard, Tera and Kiara were all once again in the large heavily armored car.

Richard and Tera were reading through Mac's dossier, they had no idea that he used to be in the armed forces. There was a list of missions he had been involved with; most of them involved small wars and battles with Silas' men. There were other missions but their details were blacked out.

Kiara was looking out of a window, watching the landscape they sped past. Suddenly she realized something; they didn't know where they were going next. "Hey, where are we going to?" she curiously asked.

"Lillycove City, from there we will get a cruise ship to a port just outside of Fuchsia City in Kanto. We'll also be given weapons before we move on to Vermillion City to pick up our next recruit." Owen replied.

Richard's head immediately shot up when he heard him mention Vermillion City. "Wasn't Vermillion attacked by Silas' slavers recently?" He questioned as he remembered the various different news reports that popped up about 3 weeks ago.

Owen didn't take his eyes off the road; he gave a one word answer, "Yes."

Richard looked over to Tera who now had a concerned look on her face, he figured that all this talk about slavers, attacks and weapons made her feel more than a little uncomfortable. "Are you okay Tera?" He asked gently.

He stared into her blank eyes, as she looked like they were staring out into space. He waved his hand in front of her face and chuckled. "Tera?" he asked.

Tera snapped out of a little daydream she was having and turned to face Richard. "Oh, yes. I'm fine." Tera lied, she didn't feel fine. She was scared, scared that one of them could lose their lives in the mission.

Her Richard, dying in front of her, telling her that he loves her and Tera crying over him.

She soon snapped back into her daydream.

_"RICHARD!" Tera yelled, as she ran over to him, who notably was lying on the floor. "T-Tera…" he told her. She had reached him and took his hand. "Yes, my love?" she asked, tears escaping down her face._

"I love you Tera…." Richard's last words were as his eyes closed, and then the life escaped from his body. "Richard…" she whispered. "Richard?" she asked.

"N-No… Th-This isn't possible!" she yelled, tears streaming along, staining her fur. "RICHARD!" she yelled, as she pushed her face into his chest.

Tera snapped herself out of her daydream, she just couldn't bear to think about it anymore.

Tera was sniffling and her eyes were becoming bloodshot. Richard quickly saw this and kissed her. "It'll be alright." He told her, over the roar of the engine.

After looking in Mac's dossier and hearing Richard's stories, she realized that these missions had very low survival rates. The thought of losing Richard tore her up inside, but she knew that a lot more lives than their own could depend on the mission.

She wanted to tell him how she really felt about this mission, but she wanted to do that in private.

Richard could see something was on her mind but all he could really do was hold her closely, so that's what he did.

Tera felt Richard drape one arm over her shoulder; she snuggled up to him and rested her head on his chest. She still felt scared, but she enjoyed being close to Richard.

He was her ray of light, her one love; and she would die before anyone would hurt him.

90 minutes later...

The car came to a halt; they were now at the dock.

Kiara, Richard and Tera both exited the car and stared at the massive cruise ship now in front of them. This was possibly the largest thing that any of them saw on water.

Owen climbed out of his car and tapped Richard on the shoulder who then turned around. "Here take these; I'm going to see to it that the car is loaded on this ship. I'll find you when we reach the destination, Enjoy the ride." Owen told as he handed three tickets over to Richard.

Richard looked at the tickets in his hand, it was colored gold and cream and had the words 'first class' written on it.

15 minutes later...

Richard and Tera walked into their room in the ship, they were stunned for a second by how amazing it looked.

There was a big wardrobe, a desk with a big fancy oval mirror in front of it, a plasma TV, a decorative door presumably leading to the bathroom and a big cozy looking queen sized double bed. There seemed to be a white and gold theme to the room.

Richard glanced over to Tera who still had a stunned look on her face. "Nice isn't it?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

Tera looked over to Richard with a smile. "This place is amazing! I wonder how much it cost them to get us this room." She exclaimed.

"A lot, most likely. There's a lot to do around this ship, I saw a map in the lobby that says it has a ballroom and restaurant around here somewhere." Richard told her while he took off his backpack and dropped the dossiers he was holding onto the bedside table.

Tera had a confused look on her face, she had never heard of a 'ballroom' before. "What's a ballroom?" She asked.

Richard had asked himself that before, he had never seen a ballroom before and all he knew was what he then told her. "I don't really know but its some kind of big place where people dance."

Tera gave a little smile, she had never danced with somebody before, but she wanted to. "Could we go there and... Dance together?" She asked nervously with an adorable look on her face.

Richard didn't really like the idea of dancing; he guessed he would be terrible at it. But if it made her happy, he would do it. "Sure, let's go now." Richard replied with a smile.

Tera happily squealed and kissed him on the lips.

15 minutes later...

Richard and Tera were lost, there were too many floors on the ship and they just couldn't find the right one, that's when they unknowingly walked straight into a restaurant.

They looked around the room which seemed to be mostly lit by candle lights. Their eyes locked on to a waiter who were now approaching them.

"Table for one?" The smartly dressed waiter asked the man and Lucario now in front of him. "Uh… No, for two." Richard replied as he took the hand of Tera. The waiter wanted to spit at him. "Ugh. Fine, table for two." He told him.

Richard became disgusted with the man. He didn't like the idea of him and Tera? "Excuse me?" he asked. "I know it's legal to be with a Pokemon in Hoenn sir, but, I really don't think that is right." The waiter replied.

"Isn't that my problem?" Richard questioned. The waiter swallowed then just said to him, "Follow me."

The waiter motioned for them to follow him with a slight wave of his hand.

Richard and Tera followed him to their candle lit table, Richard was trying hard to restrain himself from punching the waiter right in his arrogant face. The waiter then took their order, two steaks and two glasses of red wine. Richard and Tera spent 2 hours in that restaurant, and they didn't even realize it. They gazed at each other over the candle lit table; the small flame illuminated their faces.

Richard couldn't stop looking into her big red eyes; he could see the flame from the candle dancing around inside them. "You have such beautiful eyes, you know that right?" Richard happily informed her.

Tera blushed at the compliment. "So do you." She replied with a little impish smile.

The waiter then came back with the bill that they called for.

Richard quickly remembered that Tera wanted to find the ballroom. "Should we try and find that ballroom then?" He asked as he reached into his pocket for his wallet.

Tera had almost forgotten they were even looking for it. "Oh, yes!" She said with enthusiasm.

Richard paid the bill but did not leave a tip, he didn't want to give that waiter anything, except maybe a punch or a kick. Richard then stood up to leave with Tera.

Sometime later, Richard and Tera had found the ballroom; it was big, really big. There was a massive crystal chandelier on the high roof of the room, it lit up everything, including the well dressed humans dancing.

They both noticed something; there were no Pokemon in the room.

Richard looked at the fancily dressed people that were in the room, this was the first time he felt underdressed.

The music that sounded through out the room sounded kind of classical, something that you could slow dance to.

Tera looked at Richard nervously; she felt a little awkward dancing in front of all these human couples. "Are you sure you want to dance with me?" she asked carefully.

Richard looked over to Tera, he could see she was nervous, but he didn't see why. "Of course I am, now lets dance." Richard replied with confidence as he took her hand and led her onto the dance floor.

Tera felt a little more confident as they stood in the center of the dance floor, she didn't know quite how this would work, dancing, so she did what they saw in the movies when people who love each other dance. She put one paw on Richard's shoulder and one in his hand.

Richard wrapped one arm around her waist and they began moving to the music.

They looked deeply into each others eyes as they danced; this was something new for both of them. Tera's clan didn't have music to dance to and the only music that Richard heard before he met Tera was old generic music that was played at the orphanage and heavy metal that Dwayne usually worked out to before a mission.

Their faces were close to each other, they both took small glances at each other's lips as they resisted the urge to just passionately kiss each other.

Tera looked over Richard's shoulder, she could see some human couples giving them looks that looked like they were disgusted, or wanted them dead. "Richard, some of these people... I don't think they like us dancing here." She told him.

Richard noticed that she was looking over his shoulder; he looked back and saw some heads turn around. They were obviously watching them, and they didn't approve of them being together.

"I don't care what they think; we have a right to dance here just as much as they do." Richard said with a vague hint of anger in his voice. "They probably don't even know what love is, not really anyway." He said as he gave some scolding looks at certain people in the room.

Tera felt happy that he was so willing to stand up for their relationship; she knew he would, and she would too. "You're right." She said.

Richard turned his attention back to the beautiful Lucario he was dancing with, this was the first time he actually danced with somebody before, and he thought he would be horrible at it but it just felt so natural and easy to pick up.

They both moved in motion together, they felt like they could predict the other's every move, in reminded them a little of their sparring matches where they could predict nearly every punch and kick the other tried to take except dancing was a lot less painful.

They stared into each other's eyes; the song sounded like it was coming to an end. Their faces moved closer, Richard's nose and her snout touched as the moved in closer, for a kiss.

The song ended and their lips met, their tongues played with each other as they embraced. Reality faded around them and all they could feel was each other, touching, kissing, and feeling the amazing emotion of being loved.

They very slowly withdrew from the kiss which left a trail of saliva that still connected to their bottom lips.

No words needed to be said, they wanted to make love. They both turned to the exit; their eyes went over several shocked looking human couples.

Richard hated the way they were looking at them, like they thought they were superior just because he loves a Lucario, not a human. He decided to screw with their minds.

"I don't care what you fuckers think, I love her." Richard said aloud. If one of those people said something nasty about them, then Richard would be more than happy to reply with a punch to the face.

Richard held Tera's paw in his hand while they both happily walked out of the ballroom.

5 minutes later...

Richard and Tera finally got back to their room; they closed the door behind them and slowly made their way over to the big bed with the golden sheets. They fell on the bed together and soon found themselves deeply kissing and stroking each other.

The strange sensation of love that they both felt was coming back to them; their bodies heating up, hormones beginning to act up.

Tera's paw now rubbed the bulge through Richard's trousers while his hand rubbed her wet little slit through her fur. She moaned at his touch, she felt two fingers rubbing her entrance, occasionally slipping inside her.

Richard looked at the lust filled expression on Tera's face as he moved his fingers in and out of her. He could feel her pulling down his trousers and boxer shorts to free his erect cock.

Tera slowly pumped his cock with one paw and held the back of Richard's head to strengthen their kiss. "I love you." Richard told her before they commenced the kiss. "Me as well." Tera replied.

When they pulled out of their kiss, Richard quickly took his clothes off.

Tera looked at his body with admiring eyes as she slowly opened up her legs and lay on her back.

Richard lay on top of her and gave her a long wet kiss, the tip of his manhood pressed against her entrance as they lost themselves in another passionate love fueled kiss.

Both of Tera's paws were now on Richard's naked back, small moans escaped her mouth as she felt Richard's hands massaging her erect nipples and his manhood softly rubbing against her vagina. She took a deep breath in anticipation of what was to come next.

Richard felt her warm love fluids slowly leaking onto the tip of his dick as he slowly plunged his cock deep into her soft, tight cunt.

Tera let out a loud lusty moan as she felt her human lover driving himself deep inside her.

Richard looked into her loving eyes as he slowly pumped his hard cock in and out of Tera's dripping wet pussy.

Tera looked into the eyes of the man she loves, her eyes went from his, down to his body and stopping at his cock that was now covered in her love fluids. The sight of this just filled Tera's head with more lust filled thoughts.

They could both feel the pleasure building up as Richard's thrusts became faster while Tera wrapped her legs around him. Richard softly kissed her neck as Tera tried to muffle her moans by burying her head into Richard's shoulder. They were getting closer to their release.

Richard pumped harder and faster, he could hear clear moans of pleasure coming from Tera which only motivated him to go faster, he knew that he wasn't going to last long like this; he could already feel it rising inside of him.

Tera's legs pulled Richard closer to her while she placed both paws on the back of his head and gave him a big wet kiss. She moaned loudly into his mouth as she felt the familiar tingling sensation in her crotch, she was ready for her release.

Richard couldn't hang on any longer; he pumped her as fast as he could as they both felt a great wave of almost unbearable pleasure shoot through their crotches.

Richard's manhood was pulled in to her tight wet cunt as it tightened around his cock, he felt numerous jolts of pure ecstasy as he flooded Tera's little fuck hole with his hot cum.

Tera screamed out with the pleasure that she felt deep inside of her, she was felt like she was about to faint when her love fluids squirted all over Richard's hard cock.

Richard looked at the panting Lucario underneath him, she looked weak and exhausted.

Tera looked into Richard's eyes, she could feel their love juices flowing down from her pussy and dripping on her tail.

Richard lifted him self off her and rested besides her. Tera cuddled up besides him and almost instantly fell asleep in his arms. Richard looked at his perfect soul mate that was now sleeping besides him; a smile came to his face when he thought that every night could be like this when they finally get back home.

Richard wondered what Ethan and Lucy were doing right now, he quietly chuckled, he hoped that they were having as much fun he was having right now.

Meanwhile...

Ethan and Lucy were now lying sideways on the couch together as they watched some romantic movie, Ethan didn't like those kinds of movies but... He was beginning to see what made them so appealing.

Lucy was lying on his lap on the couch; he enjoyed being so close to her.

They were watching a scene where a human admitted to being in love with a Blaziken; this was one of the few popular movies that showed a human and Pokemon sex scene.

Lucy watched wide eyed as the movie showed a fairly artistic sex scene, she didn't realize that Pokemon and human relationships were fairly common in some areas of the world.

As Ethan watched the movie, he thought about him and Lucy, he wondered what it would be like to make love to her. Ethan didn't notice, but his penis was now becoming erect.

Lucy carried on eagerly watching the movie, until she felt something pressing against her butt. She looked behind her to see a big bulge in Ethan's trousers, she blushed when she realized what it was, and then she felt something that she had never felt before.

Ethan suddenly felt something warm and soft on his manhood, he looked down to see Lucy pressing her butt against his groin. He couldn't believe what he was seeing for a second, but he enjoyed it so much.

Lucy felt Ethan's manhood through his trousers, she felt like just mating with him right there and then.  
She looked over to Ethan who now had a surprised look on his face, she soon realized that he had noticed her pressing herself against him, she thought that she should have stopped but when she saw that he was erect for her, she was filled with a strong sexual desire.

"Err, Ethan... I... Can we mate together?" She cautiously asked in her cute, nervous, elegant tone.

Ethan's expression changed from surprised to happy, he wanted it just as much as she did. He stroked her furry head and said, "If that's what you want, then I'll mate with you." He replied as a big smile came to his face.

Lucy blushed before looking back down to Ethan's crotch, she turned to face him. Slowly and nervously her paw went down to touch his penis through his trousers. 'I can't believe this is actually happening!' Her happy voice echoed in her mind as she rubbed Ethan's manhood through his trousers with her paw.

Ethan felt a jolt shoot down his spine when he felt her paw rubbing at his hard cock; he looked on as Lucy slowly unzipped his trousers and pulled down his trousers and boxer shorts at once.

Lucy stared at his erect manhood for a second before wrapping her clawed paw around it tightly which earned a groan from Ethan.

Her soft fur and her smooth paws were going to do a number on him; this he knew from the start.

Ethan looked to see Lucy slowly moving her paw up and down his cock, he felt both slightly frightened and satisfied at the same time. He was frightened that her claws might cut into him, but he knew that she wouldn't do something like that, she'd be careful.

Lucy eagerly continued to pump Ethan, she watched as precum slowly leaked from the tip of his manhood.

Ethan's eyes went down to Lucy's butt as she moved her paw on his cock faster and faster. Lucy let out a gasp when she suddenly felt Ethan's hand on her butt. Ethan caressed her cute little butt, and his hand eventually moved closer and closer to her slit.

Lucy's grip on Ethan's manhood loosened when she felt his fingers slowly rubbing her pussy. Ethan closed his eyes, he felt like he was in heaven. He listened out for Lucy's little moans and whimpers of pleasure as his fingers explored her.

Lucy wanted to keep pumping Ethan, she could see how much he was enjoying it, and she enjoyed his touch. Ethan rubbed her her clit gently, he could tell that she was close, and so was he. Ethan opened his eyes, he could feel himself letting go. "Lucy... I'm going t-to-" Ethan couldn't finish his sentence, he rubbed her cunt as he groaned when he felt his hot cum shooting out of his cock.

Lucy was startled when his hot cum hit her face, but then she realized what was happening and kept pumping him until the last drop of cum left his cock. She looked at the hot thick white stuff on her paw and claws, curiosity got the better of her as she licked his cum off one claw, then the other, and then the rest of her paw, she wiped the rest away from her face. She whimpered as she felt something strange, a rising tingling sensation, growing stronger as Ethan ran his fingers across her cunt and massaged her clit. She knew that the same thing that was happening to Ethan was happening to her.

Ethan felt her get wetter as her moans grew louder, he wanted to return the favor. Lucy was breathing in deeply and letting out little huffing noises, soon, she let out a single loud long moan as she came hard.

Ethan's hand was showered in her love fluids that squirted from her cunt. He couldn't believe how much there was, none of his previous partners came like this but then again, all his previous partners were human.

Lucy lay next to Ethan to recover from the new experience she just had.

Ethan took off what clothing he still had on and lay next to Lucy on the couch. Lucy cuddled up besides him. Lucy's paws stroked Ethan's warm skin, she felt like she could just sleep soundlessly next to him, but she wanted more, she wanted him inside her.

Ethan watched as Lucy climbed on top of him, she rested her body on his. Lucy rubbed her pussy against Ethan's manhood which grew harder, she couldn't wait any longer. "Ethan... I want you." She said lustfully.

Ethan knew what she meant, and he was happy to hear her say it. The tip of Ethan's manhood pressed against her warm wet entrance.

Lucy couldn't take his constant teasing, she needed him now. "Do it... please." She pleaded.

Ethan was more than happy to comply, his cock pushed through the lips of her pussy and broke through her barrier.

Lucy let out a little yelp as a jolt of pain and pleasure shot throughout her body, tears of pain and happiness filled her eyes. Ethan looked down to his furry lover's white and red face, he could see she was in pain, the tears in her eyes said it all, he never wanted to hurt her. "Lucy, are you alright? W-we could stop right now if y-" Ethan's rushed words were cut off by Lucy's answer. "Please, don't stop." She said as her teary eyes looked into Ethan's eyes.

Ethan did as she said, and kept slowly thrusting his cock into her hot little cunt.

Lucy closed her eyes as she felt Ethan moving in and out of her, slowly. Little whimpers left her lips as she lay on Ethan and enjoyed the feeling of him inside her.

Ethan pumped his manhood in and out of her as his hands softly stroked her back and slowly went down to her butt. Lucy rested her head on Ethan's chest, she could feel the pain fading and the pleasure intensifying between her legs.

Ethan could hear her panting and letting out little moans of pleasure as he sped up his pace. Lucy's mind concentrated on the feeling of Ethan's hard cock pumping faster and faster, deeper and deeper into her soaking wet pussy, pushing her closer to her orgasm.

Ethan's hands stroked and caressed her butt as he pushed his cock in as deep as he could, hearing a moan from Lucy as he did. Ethan could feel himself letting go again, but he could tell that she was close too.

They could feel themselves building up closer and closer to orgasm, they were both right on the edge of blowing. Lucy and Ethan let out a few loud moans and groans together as they both felt the eruption of pure ecstasy in their private parts. Ethan enjoyed the amazing feeling of her surrounding his manhood, tightening and soaking it in her love fluids. Lucy's paws held Ethan's shoulders tightly as she felt her love fluids leave her as his filled her.

Lucy released her tight grip on his shoulders and lay on him as she recovered from her first time mating.

They both happily panted as they held each other tightly, both not saying a word, just enjoying the moment.

10 hours later...

Tera and Richard were now both in the shower, together. They washed each other, rubbing, massaging and caressing their soapy bodies, paying special attention to certain areas. They drew each other into a passionate kiss as they felt the warm water hitting and cascading down their bodies while moaning to each other's touch. Richard ran his fingers through her fur as Tera moved her paw down his chest. They pulled out of the kiss and looked into each other's adoring eyes, they moved in for another kiss, but were interrupted by the sound of somebody knocking at the door. They both sighed when they heard Owens voice saying, "Meet me on the bow of the ship in one hour, be on time."

Richard and Tera looked at each other with disappointed looks, they wanted to spend more time alone together.

Sometime later...

Richard had got dressed, grabbed his translator and big military bag and headed for the bow of the ship. They were now standing on the deck of the ship, the front of it from the look of things. Their eyes instantly went over to a familiar figure, Kiara.

Kiara was looking through the safety rails of the ship and watching the waves crash against the side of it. Her ears perked up when she heard somebody walking up behind her, she turned to see Richard and Tera. "What do you two think of the ship?" Kiara asked curiously.

"Well, its big and hard to get around and some of the people here seem like real dicks. But our room is nice and the food is great though. What do you think of it here then?" Richard asked

"Well the people do seem like snobby dicks here, but I've had fun spying on them. I couldn't get into my room but I probably wouldn't have liked it anyway, out here seems nicer and cooler anyway." Kiara said as she enjoyed the cooling breeze on her body.

Richard gave a confused look. "You couldn't get into your room? You could have just asked me to open it for you." Richard said.

"But then how would I get out?" Kiara asked.

Richard then looked down to her paws and quickly realized that she couldn't turn the handle. "Oh, I see the problem here." Richard said as he heard someone walking up behind him. Richard turned around to see Owen approaching them.

Owen got ready to give them their objective for their first mission, recruiting the war hero.

* * *

**Author's note: Well, things are heating up now eh? Anyways, thank you to Infinity Warrior who added some really cool bits to this story and also correcting punctuation. And a thank you in advance to Hironada who will be checking this chapter through later for more errors. And thank you again to the readers, you guys are the reason i will see this story through to the end!**


	24. Biker bar brawl

Owen looked over to Richard and asked, "Did you get a chance to look over the rest of the dossiers yet?"

"No, why?" Richard asked.

"Because we're going to be hitting land soon, and we're going to be recruiting the War Hero. You should read up on his background if you're going to be leading him." Owen stated whilst crossing his arms.

Richard was confused as to what he meant. "Wait; 'Leading'? Why would I be leading him?" Richard asked with a mixture of both concern and anger.

Owen sighed, he was afraid that this would be his reaction. "I picked everybody that I'm putting on the team for a reason; I picked you because you're an excellent fighter and leader. I know that you don't want to lead a team, but lives could be lost on this mission if I or anybody else leads the team." He told Richard.

Richard soon realized that he was talking about when he became a leader of a group of mercenaries, the job paid better but he didn't like being responsible for the men serving under him, so he gave up the job and handed it to another guy.

Richard knew he did a good job of being a leader, but that didn't stop him losing sleep when one of his men died, and there was nothing he could do about it. It pained him to think about it. "I don't like this... But, if it means that I save lives, then I'll do it." Richard mumbled.

Tera could see that Richard was thinking about something, and when she looked at his aura, it showed that he was hurt on the inside. Richard felt Tera's paw rubbing his back, she always made him feel better about everything and sometimes she didn't even have to say anything, this was one of those times.

Owen knew that Richard didn't like it, but he was glad he agreed to do it.

"Good, I'll tell you more about the recruit on the way to Vermillion. We should be arriving at Fuchsia City in less than five minutes; we'll take the car from there. There should be cafe near the port we will be arriving at, that's where I will meet you. Don't forget to bring the dossiers too." Owen informed them as he walked off, not even glancing behind him.

7 minutes later...

The ship was now docked and Owen now sat in his car, alone. He checked that he had everything that he needed, that's when a female voice came in through his earpiece.

"Owen, are you there?" The female voice asked.

Owen pressed his finger on the barely visible button on the center of the earpiece. "Yeah, I'm here." He replied as his voice lost his strict professional tone.

"I've got a location update on your next recruit, the war hero, he's in a bar called 'Dan's tavern' just outside of Vermillion. You can't miss it." The mysterious female voice said.

"What about the weapons drop?" Owen asked, still missing his professional voice.

"I'll contact you with more information on that once you have got the War Hero on your team." The voice replied.

"Thanks for the info." Owen said as he started up the car and the engine revved to life.

"Owen, please be careful on this one." The voice says with a concerned tone to it.

"Aren't I always?" Owen chuckled as he drove off towards the cafe. "Right." replied the voice sarcastically.

Meanwhile...

Richard, Tera and Kiara were now in the cafe that Owen told them to meet at. It was still pretty early in the morning and the sun was high in the sky, it shone brightly through the window of the cafe and onto the table they were sitting at.

Richard looked over to Tera; her face was lit up by the sunshine. It all felt so familiar to Richard, it reminded him of the day Tera became part of his 'clan', it brought a smile to his face when he remembered that day, it was the day his life started to be worth living.

Tera noticed him looking at her with admiring eyes, it warmed her heart to be reminded just how much she means to him.

Richard could see her blushing, he loved it when she blushes, it made her already cute face even cuter, somehow.

They both looked at each other lovingly; for what seemed to be hours at a time, yet, in reality, the collapsed time was only a few seconds.

Richard and Tera noticed Kiara's head turning quickly and staring at something out of the window. They both quickly glanced out of the window and saw the same big bulky military car that Owen drove.

Owen waited in the car and watched as the mercenary who turned into a cop, the Lucario whose clan got slaughtered, and the Glaceon whom he knew nothing about walked out of the cafe and got into the back of the car. The team he was building consisted of very mixed individuals; and then his mind wandered to confusion.

What it was about? He wondered what the war hero was like. Owen had heard what the war hero had done to earn that title and he was impressed, but now it seemed that he had become a drunk since then, but he was sure that his skills were still with him.

Or at least hoped.

Owen heard the car door close and he drove the big hunk of metal to the bar where his next recruit was drinking at.

Richard looked at the dossiers in his hands; he shifted through them until he found the one entitled 'The War Hero' which he then opened.

'The War Hero.'

Recruit number: #0985

Name: Bruce Harrison

Age: 29

Background info: He joined Kanto's army despite being born in Johto; he has stated that he did this because 'Kanto was the only one doing a fucking thing about Silas.'

Bruce joined Kanto's army at the age of 21, he was since involved with the battle of Ashford Island where he earned various medals and accolades for recapturing lookout point single-handedly, also rescuing over 30 soldiers whom were to be sold as slaves or executed. He then left Kanto's army at the age of 25, soon after becoming a well known war hero amongst the soldiers within Kanto's army.

He returned to Johto where he then stayed with his sister (Kelly, aged 23 at the time) when an assassination attempt was carried out by one of Silas' elite soldiers (The Black Vipers), the soldier was killed and Bruce's sister (Kelly) was reported being shot during the fight between Bruce and the elite soldier. Around that time, Bruce began his alcoholic stupor and moved back to Kanto.

Height: 5 ft 9.5 inches; last measured.

Place of birth: Johto

Richard stopped reading to look at the picture in the dossier, a picture of Bruce; he had very short black hair, green eyes, and rough stubble on his face. He looked exactly like how he expected a soldier to look like.

Richard set the dossier on his lap, as he felt like he had seen enough.

Owen's eyes scanned the road ahead of him, still no sign of the bar.

Tera rested her head on Richard's shoulder, she still felt a little sleepy, she wanted to just cuddle up to Richard and fall asleep again. He did as well, but knew that the job was a bit more pressing at the moment.

Kiara looked out of the window of the car to see trees zooming past; she wondered how fast they were going.

Richard did smile a little to see her curiosity, it was amusing, just like a Mightyena sticking its head out of a car's window, such he had seen a many times during his job.

Owen's eyes locked on to some kind of building, like a cottage only larger looking and with a car park and a sign saying 'Dan's Tavern'.

I quickly noted that the sign was faded and the place looked like it was over 20 years old.

"We're here." Owen told us as he pulled the car up into an empty parking space. Owen switched the engine off and climbed out of the car, quickly followed by the others.

Richard's attention turned to the motorbikes in the car park. 'Is this some kind of biker bar?' he thought to himself.

Tera looked over to the tavern; it had one large glass window near the front door. The group stop walking towards the tavern when they heard something... Shouting; they heard multiple cuss words and something glass broke, presumably a bottle.

They all jumped back when they saw a man crashing through the glass window and fall to the dirt path.

"Gah... You fucking cocksuckers." The man groaned as he got up off the ground.

The front door of the tavern flung open and a large biker guy came running out along with 3 other biker looking guys.

Richard looked at the man that had crashed through the window; it was the war hero, Bruce. He was dressed in a plain green T-shirt with woodland camouflage trousers and combat boots; he also wore dog tags around his neck. The back of his T-shirt was now slightly ripped, with a short line of blood.

The large biker guy looked like he was over six foot tall, bald and wearing black jeans and a black leather jacket with a large emblem on the back of it, he couldn't make out the writing or the small details but there was the head of a Houndoom in the center of it and golden flames around it.

He looked very imposing. The other men were around about the same height as Richard and the war hero, one of the men was holding a pool cue.

The large biker man walked over to Bruce, who stood his ground.

"Did you really think you could fuck with us and get away with it?" The large biker threatened in a deep threatening tone.

"I fucked your sister and got away with it, so yeah." Bruce laughed in a cocky, rough tone of voice.

The large biker darted forward and threw a strong right hook; Bruce ducked and threw his own fist into the biker's testicles. The biker lurched forward in pain; Bruce then threw an upper cut which caught the biker's chin.

The large biker stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.

Bruce looked at the shocked, stupid expressions on the other biker's faces, he savored it. Bruce put up his fists and shouted, "FUCKING COME ON YOU PANSIES!"

It was obvious that he had a short temper.

Two of the unarmed bikers ran towards him. Suddenly, one threw a punch which he easily dodged by jumping back.

The other one then threw his fist which Bruce blocked with his forearm and then countered by punching quickly slamming his fist into the biker's nose, then the side of his head, and then the other side of his head with the other fist. Bruce watched the biker drop to the ground.

"Fuckin' dropped." Bruce quickly blurted out before the other biker tried to kick him. Bruce quickly grabbed his leg. "Fucking got ya now." Bruce melodically sung as he slammed his fist into the biker's jaw and kicked him in the stomach, sending him to the ground.

Bruce looked over to his side and saw the big guy getting back up. "Eat the fucking ground." Bruce cussed as he kicked the big biker to the side of his baldy head. Bruce watched him drop back to the ground but he knew he would be back up soon, so he stomped on the big biker's face with full force, breaking the biker's nose, knocking him out cold.

Bruce turned back around to face the biker with the pool cue, he looked young and he could see the fear in his eyes. "You should run... Now." Bruce stated as he glared at the young man.

He then smiled when he saw him shake but still stood in the same place he was when the fight started, he got a devious idea. Bruce slowly walked towards him, quietly, and then suddenly jumped forward and shouted "FUCKING RUN!" which is exactly what the biker with the pool cue did.

Bruce laughed as he watched the tough young biker guy run away, that's when he noticed the group that was watching him. 'Who the fuck are those guys? Eh. Probably just trainers or some shit.' He thought to himself as he walked back into the bar.

Richard, Tera, Kiara and Owen all looked at the downed bloody bruised men. Owen was sure that he had the right guy. "Follow me." Owen instructed as he walked into the bar, the others following closely behind.

They found themselves inside an empty tavern, some of the tables and chairs were overturned and broken, the only people inside the tavern were Bruce who was sitting on a high chair at the bar, and a man talking to him behind the bar.

Bruce downed what remained in the bottle of vodka and looked over to Dan the bartender who was now looking behind Bruce. "Let me guess, the big guy is back for more." Bruce groaned.

"No, there's a group walking over your way though." Dan informed as his eyes went over the mysterious group.

Bruce looked behind him as his hand went over to the vodka bottle, ready to use it as a weapon.

Owen could see this man was ready to attack, so he quickly explained everything. "Bruce, my name is Owen and we need you on our team. Silas is going to launch an invasion, and I need the best to stop that from happening. That's you."

Bruce just grunted and shot back, "Not interested."

Owen knew that would be his reaction, but he knew how to convince him to come along. "If you come along and complete the mission, you'll be rewarded with a large sum of money." Owen persuaded.

This caught Bruce's attention. "Hmm, I still think I need a little more convincing." He said, he was interested to see just far he would go to get him on his team.

Owen's eyes went over to the different vodka bottles scattered around where he was drinking at. "You'll also get a life time supply of vodka." He added to his previous statement; intriguing the alcoholic man in front of him.

Bruce suddenly shot up right in his chair, slammed his fist down into the bar's counter and enthusiastically yelled, "Sign me up!"

Owen wasn't actually expecting him to agree just like that, but he wasn't complaining. "Come with us." He stated.

Bruce didn't know if he was telling the truth, but he didn't really care anyway. Bruce unsteadily got out of his chair and followed the people he knew nothing about. 'What could possibly go wrong here?' his sarcastic voice asked himself in his head.

5 minutes later...

Bruce was sitting in the back of the car, facing the two Pokemon and the man with the faux hawk. Owen had given him some kind of translator, and he was eager to try it out.

He looked at the Glaceon, Owen had said that he was gathering the best, or that's what he told him. "Hey, agent guy. If you're gathering the best then what's the creepy pale blue rat doing here?" As soon as Bruce said this, Kiara shot him a look that could intimidate a Machamp.

"And what is a drunken ape like this doing around here?" Kiara said with venom in her voice.

Bruce had a devious smirk on his face. "Oh, mouthy are we?" He replied with a cocky tone.

Kiara frowned at him, she could tell that this man was going to get under her skin; she could already imagine herself freezing him solid and biting down into his frozen corpse. "Just shut up, and I won't freeze you to death." She angrily threatened.

Bruce enjoyed the hatred in her voice; it made him want to fight. "I'd like to see you try." He provoked as visions of him grabbing the Glaceon and giving her a good solid headbutt ran through his mind.

Bruce's cocky tone got to Kiara more than anything else. "I'd like to see you try stopping me." She shot back with a very serious look on her face.

Bruce could see just how much he was irritating her, he wanted her to attack him, and he wanted another challenging exhilarating fight after the disappointing one with the bikers. Bruce leaned forward in his seat and added, "Bah. I seriously doubt that you could even scratch me."

Kiara looked down to his neck; she resisted the urge to sink her teeth into his flesh. "Sit back in your seat; I'm beginning to smell the alcohol on your breath." She snappily replied.

Richard and Tera watched awkwardly as Kiara and Bruce exchanged looks of hatred and anger.

Owen could hear the hate in their voices, if this carried on then it seemed like they would rip each other apart. "Calm down you two, you're no good to us dead." He told them.

Owen's words fell on deaf ears.

Bruce stared at the Glaceon. 'She is really pissed!' He thought to himself. Bruce didn't hate her, he just loved conflict.

Kiara stared at Bruce as if she was staring into his soul, just being around him irritated her.

5 minutes later...

The car stopped, they were now in Vermillion outside of Bruce's house. There was a strong military presence around the area; soldiers in black and grayish digital camouflage uniforms were everywhere, paroling the streets, carrying their M16 assault rifles in their hands.

They had stopped them on the way into the city, but the commander stationed there seemed to recognize Owen, and let them pass freely.

Bruce climbed out of the car with the military backpack Owen had given him, he was told to pack everything he needs. Bruce closed the car door behind him and walked over to his house which had about a hundred bullet holes in it.

Bruce searched around in his pockets for his house keys. 'Ah, where the fuck are ya little bastards? Aha, there you are!' "FUCK!" He shouted out loud, drawing the attention of some passing by soldiers.

He quickly pulled his hand out of his pocket to look at the small bleeding cut on his index finger. "What the fuck is in my pocket?" He said to himself as he reached in his pocket a second time and pulled out a small shard of glass which he then tossed to the floor and stomped on.

"Fucker." He said as he searched around in his pocket again for his keys. 'Gotcha.' He thought as he pulled out his keys and finally unlocked his front door.

Kiara watched as the most irritating person she had ever met walked into his house. "You know, we could just drive away." Kiara suggested.

Owen was tempted, but the mission came first, not personal preferences. "I know we could, but we still need him." He sighed.

Somehow, Kiara knew he would say that. "But why? Sure he's a good fighter but... Just look! I don't even think he will be any use to us!" She exclaimed as her paw pointed towards the open door of the house and at Bruce who seemed to be downing a whole bottle of vodka.

Bruce dropped the now empty vodka bottle on the floor and made his way over to the kitchen, but not before stopping a second to look over to his smashed window with a M16 assault rifle below it and bullet casings scattered around it.

"Twats." He said as he thought about the slavers that he shot and killed just a few weeks ago.

Blood everywhere and him smiling as he castrated them.

Bruce snapped out of his rather enjoyable daydream of splattering their heads open with bullets and moved into the kitchen to grab what he needed.

He opened the fridge and said, "Hello there my little beauties." as he grabbed various different drinks and stuffed them into his backpack.

Owen, Kiara, Richard and Tera were still waiting in the car for Bruce. Kiara thought about how every second wasted on waiting could be time they could have spent driving away from Bruce, the rough, alcoholic, annoying human. She hated almost everything about him.

Owen was now just staring at the steering wheel now in front of him, and then a familiar voice rang in his ear.

"Owen, update on your weapon pickup. They'll be given to you by a man called Peter who will be waiting for you near somewhere on route 11. He'll be the person with the red bandana, standing besides a black van." The feminine voice informed him.

"Gotcha." Owen responded quietly.

Bruce had cleared his kitchen of anything alcoholic, the drinks clunked around in his backpack when he lifted it up to put it on. He was about to leave, but he felt like he was missing something.

His eyes went over to the window and over to the assault rifle, it wasn't that, it was already broken beyond repair.

'What the fuck am I missing?' his voice growled in his head, then his eyes went over to the table next to the window, and found what he was looking for.

Bruce walked over to the table that had magazines for the assault rifle, most were empty and some were full but that wasn't what he was looking for, it was the small blue teddy bear next to them.

It brought him both happy and awful memories, and he took it with him. He didn't know why he took it, but he thought that it was probably better if he didn't think about it.

Bruce walked out of the house, not bothering to close the door behind him. He climbed back into the car, closed the door behind him and looked over to the Glaceon who had a more than pissed off expression on her face.

"What?" he asked as he took off his backpack loaded with alcohol which made a glassy clunk noise as he placed it on the floor.

Kiara's eyes went to the backpack. "What have you got in there?" She asked curiously yet still keeping her angry tone.

"Booze, now stop staring at me with those big bug eyes." Bruce replied.

Kiara sighed. "Are you going to be a drunken jackass all the way through this mission?" She questioned.

"Hey, I've been a drunken jackass for the past couple of years, why should I stop now?" Bruce happily said.

Kiara had nothing more to say to the man in front of her, nothing pleasant anyway.

Richard and Tera felt like they could cut the tension in the air with a knife. But, what fun would that be?

Owen drove on towards Route 11, although he wasn't looking forward to giving Bruce a gun. Rule number 1 : Don't give a drunk, a weapon that can kill.

2 minutes later.

The car arrived at Route 11 and stopped besides a man; who, coincidentally was leaning against a black van. The man was wearing a red bandana, a red shirt and dark blue jeans. Owen had not yet told Richard or Bruce they were going to get guns.

Bruce looked over to the man besides the black van outside. "Who's the guy with the bandana?" Bruce asked.

"He's going to give us guns, which is all you need to know." Owen replied.

Bruce didn't like his tone, he didn't like Owen. "Don't give me that secretive bullshit." Bruce angrily said. 'I don't mind that blue rat but this agent guy, he's a dick.' He thought to himself.

Owen ignored what he had to say and his only reply was, "Follow me." He stated as he got out of the car.

Richard, Tera, Kiara and Bruce followed Owen who stepped in front of the man in the red bandana and asked, "Peter?"

The man nodded and replied, "I've got your guns, you should each take two, a primary and a secondary weapon. I also have a selection of other weapons too."

Bruce looked over to the man who was now trying to open up the back of his van. "I bet this is going to cost a shitload of money." Bruce added.

The man looked back at him and said, "Actually this wont cost you a thing, the government is paying for your guns. Whoever you guys are going, the government must really want them dead."

The van's door unlocked and 'Peter' opened them to reveal a varied arsenal of weapons. "Take what you want." Peter told them.

Bruce almost drooled over the sight; guns, guns, everywhere and with many a bullets to spare.

He was the first one to step up to the van to get his guns. His eyes went over the guns. 'M16, AK-47, Combat Shotgun... I'm taking that shit!' Bruce thought to himself as he grabbed the combat shotgun, a 9mm semi-auto pistol that came with a leg holster and a machete that came with a sheathe that could be slung around to his back, along with the combat shotgun. He also grabbed some shells for the shotgun and clips for the pistol.

Richard was the second to step up to the van and he immediately found what he was looking for. He grabbed a MP5 submachine gun, he knew there were better guns there but he worked better with that gun.

He felt its weight in his hands, it reminded him of his days as a mercenary, the MP5 and the 9mm semi-auto pistol were the tools of his trade and they saved many peoples lives, as well as ending them.

He then remembered why he wanted to stop being a mercenary, he wondered what would make working for Owen any different than being a mercenary, but he remembered that this time, it wasn't just some random mission, this mission was one to save lives.

Richard put all those thoughts out of his mind as he walked over back to Tera as he slung the MP5 around his back and strapped the holster the pistol was in around his right leg.

Owen was the last to pick his gun, a chrome 9mm semi-auto pistol with an attached silencer. He didn't want to pick anything else; he thought that it would just make him more of a target.

Owen then walked back over to the group; he could see Bruce with a overjoyed look on his face, and Kiara looking a lot less pleased. He then looked over to Richard who had a concerned look on his face; he guessed that Richard was concerned for the safety of his partner.

Tera's eyes went to the guns that Richard now had, she hoped that he wouldn't have to use them anytime soon.

Peter, the man with the red bandana closed the back doors of his van, locked them and then got into his van without saying a word.

Owen was about to open his car door, his hand was on the handle but then the familiar voice rang in his ear again.

"Owen, I have some bad news." The familiar female voice begun.

"Hit me." Owen responded.

"Suspected members of the black vipers have been sighted around Vermillion City, they may be planning another attack. You have orders to track down these suspected members around the City, and watch them." She added.

Everyone looked confused as Owen held his hand to his ear. Richard shot a look at Tera, who shrugged. Bruce took out a small bottle of whiskey and a shot glass from his vest and poured himself a glass. Kiara looked disgusted as she watched him down it all.

"Kanto has given you and your team full clearance around the City, so the soldiers shouldn't be a problem. I'll update you on the suspects as soon as you reenter the City. Brief your team and head out." The female voice informed as it crackled out.

Owen turned to the group he had built up. "I've just got our orders for our first mission, Silas' elites are somewhere inside Vermillion, and we have to stop them from whatever they are about to do." Owen told them all.

Richard's head immediately turned to Owen when he mentioned Silas' elite force, the black vipers. Richard had heard of them, they were said to be trained by Silas himself by coming with him on almost certain death missions.

Richard had heard that the training or selection process kills more than 90% of the candidates, which meant that the people who actually become black vipers are deadly survivors.

Tera could see that something was wrong, Richard had that worried look on his face, the same worried look he had when he approached those men that attacked them, the same look he had when he fought those slavers, and his father.

"What's wrong?" Tera concernedly asked. Richard looked back over to Tera and replied, "Nothing just... Just stay close to me, okay?"

Tera knew that something bad was going to happen, but she also knew that Richard will protect her, and she'll protect him. "Okay." Tera told him. She took his hand and held onto it.

Bruce looked over to Owen. "Wait a sec, you JUST got orders? Where from?" Bruce asked with suspicion.

Owen knew that someone would ask eventually, he was just surprised that the first person to notice was a drunken ass, but apparently a observant drunken ass.

"I received the orders from my contact; she contacts me through my earpiece. Now let's go." Owen commanded as he entered his car.

2 minutes later...

They were all once again in the big bulky car, heading back to Vermillion City.

Bruce couldn't stop thinking about blowing some slaver's head clean off with a single blast to the face with his new gun, but there was something else on his mind too.

'Man, why the fuck does my back sting so much?' He thought to himself as he brought his hand to his back. Bruce put his hand down the back of his T-shirt and felt numerous cuts and scrapes.

'How the... Wait. That big fucking wanker cut my back when he threw me through the fucking window!' He angrily thought to himself. 'I hope I kicked some of that twat's fucking teeth out!' He thought as he looked at the blood on his fingers, one of the cuts had reopened its self.

Kiara watched as Bruce looked at the blood on his fingers. 'Is he bleeding?' Kiara thought to herself.

Richard could see him looking at the blood on his fingers. "You're bleeding; do you need someone to take a look at you?" Richard asked. This man seemed like an ass, but Richard still saw him as a teammate.

It wasn't like this was the first time Richard had to work with someone loud and annoying.

"It's just a scratch, it'll heal." Bruce replied.

Richard just left it at that, he knew that if he insisted he would just end up annoying him.

Bruce didn't like the agent or the Glaceon, but he didn't know what to make of the Lucario and the man with the faux hawk.

Bruce put all thoughts out of his head as he tried to get comfortable in his seat, a hard thing to do when you have a combat shotgun and a machete behind your cut up back. It was times like these that Bruce was glad he drinks a lot, it helps with the pain.

Richard went back to looking out of the window again; they were beginning to enter Vermillion again. He could see soldiers patrolling the area and bombed and burned buildings, he wondered if anyone besides Bruce actually still lived in this City.

Tera looked out of the window too; it saddened her to think about the lives lost at this place, how many clans had been torn apart.

The car soon came to a stop, just outside of the local gym.

Bruce suddenly realized something. "Hey, agent guy. Wont these soldiers do something about the guns we're carrying?"

Owen was surprised the drunk asked such relevant questions. "No, they know about our presence here, they won't do a thing." Owen reassured the team as he climbed out of the car.

Owen looked around him as the specialist team he had built up stepped out of the car and the familiar voice rang in his ear again. "Owen, there's something wrong here. Get your team out of the City ASAP!" The voice ordered.

"But wait, I thought you said the-" Owen was cut off by a loud explosion and the sound of gunfire and shouting soldiers.

The group ducked down, taking cover besides the heavily armored vehicle.

The three male humans armed themselves, Richard with his MP5, Bruce with his combat shotgun and Owen with his silenced 9mm pistol.

Tera stayed close to Richard, just like he asked.

"What the fuck is going on?" Bruce shouted out over the gunfire and shouts as he got ready to blast someone in the face with his shotgun.

Nobody responded, they just looked around for the shooters. Richard was the first one to lean out of cover, to see what was going on. He saw soldiers running and firing down a street, but he couldn't see who they were firing at.

The soldiers seemed to drop like flies, clutching their wounds as the bled out on the floor, who ever was shooting at them was accurate, and deadly. Soon, there were only four soldiers left. One of the soldiers shouted out something that he couldn't hear, but he guessed it was the order to retreat.

The soldiers ran, but three more got gunned down, including the soldier that ordered the retreat. The last soldier ran towards the armored car they were taking cover behind, Richard knew that if they didn't cover him, that soldier may die as well. "COVER HIM!" Richard shouted out as he stood up and aimed his gun down the street.

Owen and Bruce instinctively did the same, and Tera stood by Richard, charging a powerful aura sphere.

The soldier stopped in his tracks for a second when he saw the well armed group, he thought they were going to gun him down, until the man with the shotgun shouted, "Get the fuck over here before they shoot your ass off!"

The young soldier sprinted over to the group and ducked down behind their vehicle.

Although the soldier was now safe with them, they didn't take their eyes off the street that now had dead soldiers littering it.

Richard and Tera stood completely still as they waited for something to happen, something that they would have to be ready for. The wait was killing them, every second felt agonizing, like they were waiting for their own execution. They were both frightened but they hid it, for both their sakes.

The soldier with the black beret who survived now lifted up his sniper rifle and aimed it at the same street he had come from.

They waited there for over 30 seconds, and nothing happened.

Richard looked around the roof tops of nearby houses, windows too, that's when he noticed something glinting from one of the windows, he instantly knew what it was, and it scared the shit out of him.

"SNIPER!" Richard shouted out as he pulled Tera back down into the cover of the armored car. Just half a second after he did this, a bullet zoomed in their direction, thankfully passing overhead. The rest of the group, including the soldier, instantly ducked down into cover, apart from Bruce who shot twice over in the direction of the sniper before ducking into cover.

Richard's and Tera's hearts raced, they almost lost each other, and they both knew it.

Bruce looked around at the group before noticing something. "Where's the rat?" He shouted.

Everybody looked around for Kiara, excluding the soldier.

Bruce didn't particularly like her, but he didn't want her dead. "Shit! We have to find her!" Bruce said before hearing a man's screams coming from the direction of the sniper.

"What the fuck was that?" Bruce asked as he quickly leaned out of cover before quickly going back into cover. Bruce wanted to know what was going on, but he knew it wasn't worth getting his head shot off.

The group waited in silence, until they heard Kiara calling out to them, yelling, "I got him!"

Bruce looked back to the group with a confused look on his face. 'No... No fucking way.' Bruce thought to himself as he quickly leaned out of cover to see Kiara now standing in the window the sniper was in.

Kiara quickly ran back over to the group to tell them what she had seen. "That one is dead but there are more." She told them.

Richard didn't like this at all, this place just felt like a death trap. "How many more?" Richard asked.

"I don't know, maybe fifty?" Kiara answered.

Richard looked over to the solder that was still scanning the area with his eyes; he could see his rank was first class private. "Soldier, how many of you were stationed down here?" Richard asked

"About fifty, but most of them were killed in the explosion and... Well the only other survivors were with me." The soldier reported as he looked back over to the dead bodies of his fallen squad mates.

Richard wondered why they would only send fifty, but he didn't want to discuss it right now. "We have to get out of here, now." Richard suggested.

Owen knew Richard was right; it was too risky to try to fight them off. "Let's get out of here."

Everybody climbed into the car, even the soldier which nobody objected to.

Owen wanted to get out of here as fast as possible so he floored the accelerator and made for the nearest exit out of Vermillion. Before they knew it, bullets were ricocheting off the vehicle and its bullet proof glass.

Owen tried his best to stay out of their line of fire but he couldn't even see them most of the time, fortunately, it appeared that Silas' men didn't have time to block off the exits. Soon they were out of the city, and out of reach of Silas' men.

Richard and Tera looked at each other, their hearts still beating rapidly. They hugged each other, happy that they were both alive and well. Richard never wanted to let go of her, and she didn't want to let go of him.

Tears formed in Tera's eyes, she came so close to losing him again. She was terrified that this would happen again, only next time they wouldn't be so lucky.

Richard rubbed her back as he heard her sobbing lightly, he regretted taking on this mission. So far, it was going bad.

* * *

**Author's note: Ahh, now things get... violent :3**

**Again i'd like to thank mah editors, Infinity Warrior and Hironada for making this as good as it could be. Also thank you again to all you awesome readers!**


	25. Out of the frying pan, into the fire

20 minutes later...

Everyone was now standing outside of the car; with the exception of Richard and Tera who were still comforting each other.

Tera buried her head into Richard's chest as he held her tightly. "Richard... I'm scared." Tera finally admitted.

"So am I, but I promise everything is going to be alright." Richard replied as he stroked her back. Richard would do anything to protect her, even if it meant sacrificing his own life.

Tera was comforted a little by his words, but she was still frightened for Richard. "I... I love you so much, I don't know w-what I would do with out y-you." Tera barely managed to state as her voice broke up and tears returned to her eyes.

Richard hated it when she cried; he wanted to protect her from all the pain in the world. Richard stroked the back of her head and said, "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

Tera could sense the truth in his words, but also the fear. "Promise me that you won't get your self... K-killed." Tera asked with a shaky voice.

"I promise, but you have to promise me the same." Richard replied whilst trying to sound strong and confident when he was slowly breaking up on the inside.

Tera looked into Richard's eyes; she could see his love for her in them. How she longed to just leave with him and continue their love. But for now, all she could do was promise.

"I promise." She replied before she lovingly pressed her lips against his.

Deep within his heart, Richard wanted to just make love with her now; as this may be their last day; but how weird would that be in front of the others?

Owen was shouting down to his contact through the earpiece's microphone about what just happened. "We were attacked! Why weren't we told that they were sending in another raiding party!" Owen shouted.

There was a few seconds before a response was put in.

"Our Intel was incorrect; this is the first time this has happened but it appears that one of the black vipers may have infiltrated and fed us false information." The female voice informed him.

"It was a set up then, that means they know we're going after Silas." Owen said.

"That's very likely, what's your current position, and what's the status of your team?" The female voice asked.

"Right now were in between Route 14 and 15. The team is in bad shape, two of them are frightened that something might happen to the other where as the war hero, he's more than a little pissed off about getting shot at, and I don't know where the Glaceon is right now. There's another problem, there is a soldier that has joined us, and he may very well be the last surviving soldier stationed at Vermillion." Owen informed his contact.

"Hmm, he may have valuable information. I'll have a chopper pick him up and return him to base, I'll give you further instructions once I get confirmation that the chopper has safely arrived at Kanto's HQ." The female voice finished as the connection ended with a 'beep'.

Owen looked over to the soldier who was now talking to Bruce, the soldier was wearing digital camouflage like the rest of the soldiers that were at Vermillion, and he also wore a black beret. Owen couldn't really tell because of the beret but he seemed to have dark brownish or black hair.

Owen's attention soon turned to the mercenary and Lucario in the car who were now kissing each other. 'Oh no, I forgot to tell them!' He thought to himself as he began to dread the conversation that he would have to have with them later.

Bruce was talking with the soldier, normally he would try to piss off anyone who looked like they could fight, but he decided that the kid had already been through enough. "What's your name then soldier?" Bruce asked.

"Robert Sir!" The soldier exclaimed as he looked at the rough looking man with the dog tags.

Bruce's eyes went down to Robert's guns, he recognized the sniper rifle the soldier was carrying, and it was a M82A2. Bruce also noticed a revolver in his leg holster; Bruce knew that Kanto's armed forces don't use these kinds of weapons.

Bruce could also see the name 'Sara' etched into the scope of the sniper rifle; he didn't ask him about it because he had no interest in small stories that had no real point.

"Call me Bruce. The army doesn't give you those, where did you get them?" Bruce questioned the young looking soldier.

"I got the rifle from a raid on an illegal weapons trading facility, run by Silas and his men." Robert replied.

"Fucking nice! I hope you killed a load of those bastards!" Bruce exclaimed, almost shouting.

Meanwhile...

Kiara was behind some nearby trees, she had found some pecha berries that were ripe and ready to be eaten. Her teeth sunk into the pink berry, breaking its soft skin. She enjoyed the very sweet, very delicious berry as she swished it around in her mouth, chewing on it a little more before swallowing it.

She was about to bite into another, but then she heard something behind her, something rustling around behind the trees and bushes. Whatever it was, it was bigger than her, about the size of a human. Kiara quickly ran back over to the group.

Owen was just looking out to the dirt road ahead of the car when he and the rest of the group, heard Kiara shout out, "THERES SOMEONE BEHIND ME!"

As soon as she shouted that out, Bruce and Owen grabbed their guns and took cover behind the bulky armored car, Robert stood in the open for a split second before following the group to the car.

Richard and Tera looked out of the windows of the car they were in; they could see Kiara, Owen, Bruce and the soldier crouching besides one side of the car. Richard was about to open the door, but he quickly pulled his hand away from the handle when he heard bullets striking the car.

"GET DOWN!" Richard shouted as he pulled Tera down to the floor of the car and lay on top of her to protect her from any bullets that may pierce the armor or glass that may shatter. Tera closed her eyes tightly and covered her ears with her paws.

"YOU FUCKING MOTHER FUCKERS!" Bruce shouted out as he shot blindly around the back of the car with his combat shotgun.

Robert lay on his stomach and looked underneath the car to scan what was on the other side through his sniper scope. He couldn't see anything apart from the bases of the trees on the other side.

Owen listened out for the gunshots, hoping that he could get some kind of indication as to where they were shooting from.

Kiara stayed down and looked underneath the car with the soldier, she couldn't see anything either.

Suddenly the gunfire stopped, and two bright red lights flashed briefly.

"TAKE THEM OUT!" A man shouted.

Bruce knew that he probably wouldn't get another chance like this to return fire, so he jumped up and yelled, "FUCK YOU!" Then he shot once in the direction of the man that shouted out.

Bruce could hear the man shout out in pain, he had actually managed to hit him without seeing him. Bruce didn't get a chance to enjoy this moment however; he ducked back down to the car as two other men began firing in his direction with fully automatic weapons.

The firing stopped once more and a new sound came to their ears, the sound of very loud footsteps, the sound of something heavy charging towards them.

Richard and Tera could hear something getting closer and closer to the car, Richard held on to Tera tightly.

Owen looked through the bullet proof glass to see what was on the other side of the car, and that's when he saw them. Two Rhyhorns were charging straight towards the car, and they were going to try smashing into it. "Run!" Owen commanded as he sprinted over to some nearby trees. Kiara, Bruce and Robert did the same.

Richard and Tera could now hear the loud footsteps right next to the car, and that's when it happened. The car suddenly overturned and Richard and Tera inside it became airborne for a split second, they could feel themselves being turned upside down before landing on the roof of the car.

Richard hit his back and his head off the metal roof of the car but Tera landed safely on Richard who cushioned her fall. As soon as they landed, Tera's first thought was for Richard who was underneath her. "Richard! Are you okay?" Tera asked with a shaky concerned tone.

"I'm fine." Richard replied as one hand let go of Tera and felt around the back of his head for a cut or bump which he fortunately could not find. Before they knew it, the sound of gunfire filled the air again.

"Richard and Tera are in that car! We have to get them!" Kiara shouted out.

"WE KNOW! NOW KILL THOSE CUNTS!" Bruce shouted out as he leaned out of the tree he was taking cover behind and shot one of the charging Rhyhorns in the face, making it close its eyes and stumble back as well as chipping away some of the rock armor plating on its face.

Robert the soldier lifted up his sniper rifle and shot off one round to the side of the other Rhyhorn's head which managed to penetrate the rock plate and lodge it's self into its brain.

The other Rhyhorn began charging in Bruce's direction. "Oh, fuck me." Bruce uttered as he threw himself away from the tree he was hiding behind and out of the path of the charging Rhyhorn.

The Rhyhorn's rock plated face collided with the thick wooden tree, snapping it at the base and causing it to fall right next to the overturned car.

Kiara temporally stopped breathing when she saw the tree narrowly missing the car with her friends in it, but she soon turned her attention to the Rhyhorn, she was going to make it pay for even attempting to harm them.

Bruce was on the floor when the slightly dazed Rhyhorn let out a loud roaring sound when it spotted him on the ground, still alive. Bruce quickly aimed his shotgun towards the Rhyhorn's head and pulled the trigger twice, letting out two blasts that cracked the Rhyhorn's rock plates on its head.

The Rhyhorn stumbled back as blood poured from its head, through the cracks on its rock plated face. Bruce tried to shoot again, but when he pulled the trigger, it just made a little metallic clinking sound. His combat shotgun was empty.

"Oh, fuck." Bruce whispered as he expected the Rhyhorn to charge at any second, but he wasn't about to just let it kill him, he pulled out his 9mm semi-auto pistol from its holster. Bruce shot off four rounds in the direction of the Rhyhorn, but then he was partially blinded by a cold white mist, it was a blizzard.

When the white mist cleared, the Rhyhorn was right in front of him, frozen solid. "Fuck!" Bruce cussed as he kicked the Rhyhorn's frozen head, causing it to shatter. Bruce quickly got up and ran to the closest tree, next to Kiara.

Kiara looked over to Bruce; she was already savoring the idea of just bragging on at him about how she saved his life.

Owen and Robert were now pinned down behind the trees by automatic fire, Owen knew they needed a detraction otherwise they wouldn't stand much of a chance against the attackers, not without loosing at least one team member.

Tera pushed herself off Richard and knelt down besides him as he pushed himself off the roof which was now the new floor.

Richard looked around the car for his backpack, which he found behind him. He opened it up and pulled out Tera's bullet proof vest.

"Here, put this on." Richard said as he handed Tera her vest and began searching for his own. After about a minute, Richard and Tera now both had their bullet proof vests on.

Richard looked at the windows, some of them were cracked, most likely the result from the repeated bullet hits and the pressure of the car now overturned on its roof. "Keep away from the windows." Richard said as he looked out of one of the windows.

"I thought you said keep away from them!" Tera exclaimed as she grew increasingly worried for Richard.

"I did, but I have to look through them." Richard said as he quickly looked through one of the windows, he could see Bruce, Kiara, Owen and that soldier out there, firing over the car in the opposite direction. Richard tried to open the upside down door, but it wouldn't budge. "It's jammed!" Richard angrily said as he gave the bullet proof glass a powerful kick, hoping that it would just shatter.

Tera watched as Richard repeatedly kicked the bullet proof glass, she began to see small cracks in the glass beginning to get bigger.

Richard kicked the glass again and again; the glass wasn't really bullet proof, just bullet resistant. It could be broken.

Richard gave it one final kick and gave up. He knew that although it was beginning to crack, it was going to take a lot more than kicks to break it.

"Here, let me try." Tera said as she moved over to the window Richard was besides. Richard watched as Tera slammed the solid steel spike on the back of her paw onto the bullet proof glass which left a massive crack going diagonally from one end of the window to the other, as well as hundreds of other smaller cracks.

"Tera, get back." Richard stated as he got in position to kick it again.

Tera shifted out of the way and watched as Richard kicked out a large portion of the window, but some small and very pointy shards remained. Richard grabbed his MP5 submachine gun and used its stock to smash out any remaining shards.

"Follow me." Richard told her as he climbed out of the window, Tera following closely behind.

Owen, Robert, Bruce and Kiara could see the gunmen shooting at them from the other side of the dirt road, taking cover behind some trees. There were three gunmen, wearing slaver's uniforms, but these gunmen seemed more skilled than any normal slaver.

Besides the gunmen, they also noticed Richard and Tera climbing out of the overturned car but also staying low so as not to be hit by the bullets whizzing over their heads.

Richard slowly crouched and moved towards the end of the car which he then looked around, this was the perfect opportunity to strike as he could see one of the gunmen firing his M16 assault rifle at Richard's teammates. Richard quickly took aim, and pulled the trigger.

Bullets sprayed out of Richard's submachine gun and tore into the gunman's upper torso and his head, killing him almost instantly.

Richard quickly ducked back into cover as the remaining two gunmen fired and shouted incoherently at each other.

Owen could see both gunmen now out of cover as they maneuvered around the trees to try and get a clear shot at Richard. Owen raised his silenced chrome handgun; he got one of the gunmen's heads in his sights as he pulled the trigger. Owen's 9mm bullet drove its self through the gunman's skull and through his brain, dead before he even hit the ground.

The last gunman knew he was no match for the team of five, so he ran into the forest as bullets hit the trees around him.

Owen sprinted after him, he knew that gunman had information that he could use. "Don't let him get away!" Owen commanded as he sprinted past the overturned car Richard and Tera were standing by.

Richard and Tera followed his lead.

Owen sprinted past the trees; the gunman was running in a zigzagging pattern so Owen couldn't get a clear shot. He continued sprinting after the gunman through the forest, he lost him a few times but he could hear his footsteps on the leaves and twigs which gave away his position.

Owen sprinted deeper and deeper into the forest, until he had really lost him. "Damn it!" Owen yelled out.

Richard and Tera who were following Owen had lost him. "Can you see him anywhere?" Richard asked.

"I couldn't see him to begin with, I just followed you." Tera told him as she looked all around her.

Richard and Tera could hear somebody running towards them from behind, Richard quickly raised his gun in his hands and Tera took up a fighting stance as Kiara and Bruce ran towards them and quickly stopped.

"Wait!" Kiara shouted as she saw Richard and Tera ready to fight.

Richard quickly lowered his gun and Tera abandoned her fighting stance. Tera was glad to see Kiara was fine; she was a good friend to her. Richard looked over to Bruce who was now loading shotgun shells into his combat shotgun.

"I don't suppose you two know where Owen went do you?" Richard asked Kiara and Bruce.

Kiara shook her head as Bruce shrugged and said, "The agent guy? I don't know... hey, that soldier guy is gone too." Bruce pointed out as he loaded the last shotgun shell into his gun.

Meanwhile...

Robert was in the forest, tracking down the last gunman. He felt like he was close by, his sniper rifle was now on his back, and he now had his revolver in his hands. Robert looked at all the trees around him; he had lost the gunman's trail here.

He then clutched the revolver in his hands tightly as he walked past some more trees.

After which, Robert suddenly felt a hand on his forearm and a punch to the back of his head. The last gunman was behind the tree Robert walked past, and now he had him. Robert shot off one round only to hit nothing as his attacker used his elbow to bash Robert across his face.

Robert was dazed but he wasn't about to let himself go down easily. He dropped his revolver and slammed his fist into his attacker's stomach whilst throwing himself forward into his attacker.

The attacker fell backwards with Robert on top of him. Robert raised his fist to strike the man underneath but the attacker violently kicked him in the chest, pushing Robert off his attacker. Robert quickly stood up as he saw his attacker reaching behind him and pulling out a 9mm pistol, a Glock 17.

Robert quickly threw himself behind the same thick tree that his attacker was hiding behind as his attacker pulled back the Glock's slide and shot at him.

"You're dead now." The gunman angrily growled as he shot three more bullets into the thick tree Robert was hiding behind.

Robert looked to his left; he could see his revolver that he dropped. He quickly dove for it and grabbed it and got ready to fire back at the gunman, but before he could get a chance to, he heard a loud gunshot.

"Dropped!" Bruce shouted out as he moved closer to the gunman on the floor who was now bleeding heavily from the small holes in his back.

Robert looked around the tree to see the Bruce, Kiara, Richard and Tera all approaching the gunman who lay on the ground motionlessly.

Richard crouched besides the gunman to check his pulse; he placed his index and middle fingers upon the side of the gunman's neck. "...He's dead." Richard confirmed.

Owen came charging out of some nearby bushes and stopped when he saw his team around the downed gunman. "Is he dead?" Owen asked.

Richard nodded in response.

Owen felt like shouting and swearing, but he suppressed it. He had wanted to trap the gunman himself, and interrogate him. "Where is the private?" Owen asked.

"Here." Robert said as he walked over towards the group, the side of his face was red from where the gunman's elbow had struck him.

Owen could see this, but he wasn't concerned for him. "There's no point in standing here, the chopper will look for us on the road." Owen said as he walked off back through the forest.

Bruce watched as the agent just walked away in the general direction of the road. "I hate him... Oh FUCK NO!" Bruce shouted out as he ran past the agent and back towards the car.

'Oh no, oh fuck no!' his voice shouted in his mind as he ran past the trees that all looked the same to him. After some time running, he finally found the overturned car. "Son of a bitch!" Bruce shouted as he opened the back door on the overturned car.

"Where the fuck is that backpack!" He shouted out as he crawled into the car. "There you are you little fucker." Bruce responded to himself as he dragged the heavy backpack containing a large supply of alcohol out of the car.

Owen, Robert, Richard, Tera and Kiara all watched from the tree line as Bruce frantically searched through his backpack.

Bruce's backpack was wet, adding to his fear that he held for one particular object. Bruce let out a sigh of relieve when he saw that all the drinks in his backpack were still intact, but then he saw his vodka.

He lifted the vodka bottle out of his backpack only to find it had been smashed during the fire fight. "...THOSE COCK SUCKING MOTHER FUCKING ASS LICKING TWATS!" Bruce angrily shouted out.

"Nobody fucks with my drinks!" He shouted as he threw what remained of the vodka bottle at the nearby dead Rhyhorn.

Owen felt like he needed to calm this man down. "Calm down, it's just a drink." Owen said.

Bruce just shot him an angry look and yelled, "It's not JUST a drink! IT'S MY FUCKING DRINK!"

Just as Bruce said that, he stormed off towards the dead Rhyhorn with the bullet in its brain to angrily stomp on its head. "I... FUCKING... HATE... YOU!" Bruce said, punctuating each word by violently stomping on the dead Rhyhorn's head.

Kiara couldn't help but giggle at the sight of the stupid human going crazy over something so small. Robert just walked over to the overturned car and sat down besides it.

Owen looked over to Richard and Tera and said, "We need to talk, follow me."

Richard and Tera looked at each other with confused expressions as they walked behind Owen who was leading them away from the rest of the group.

Owen turned to face Richard and Tera. He sighed before he told them what they had to know. "Listen, Kanto is different from Hoenn, the law is different here. Kanto does not allow Pokemon and human relationships." He stated.

Richard and Tera looked at each other with confused and concerned expressions. Richard's expression changed though. "Let me get this straight here. Were laying OUR lives on the line here for people who won't even allow us to be together?" Richard asked with anger in his voice as he thought back to the people on the ship. 'They must have come from Kanto...' Richard thought as he spoke up to Owen.

"So we could be arrested if they know we love each other?" Richard angrily questioned as he seriously thought about leaving the mission.

Owen could tell Richard was pissed, and by the looks of things, so was Tera. "I know you two must be pissed off right now but we'll only be in this region for a few more days." Owen said in an attempt to make things seem a little brighter.

Richard already hated this place. "This place almost got us all killed and now you're telling us that the people we are fighting to defend wont even let us be together, otherwise they'll arrest us. You'll have to forgive me if I hate every second I spend here." Richard stated as he stormed off with Tera.

Owen's attention soon turned from the angry former mercenary and Lucario to the sky as he heard the sound of the approaching helicopter.

Everyone's attention turned to the black and gray camouflaged helicopter that hovered above them before slowly descending on the widest part of the dirt road.

Robert could see the emblem of Kanto's armed forces on the side of the helicopter, as well as two large miniguns mounted on each side.. Owen walked over to Robert and said, "Get on the helicopter; it'll take you straight over to Kanto's HQ. Your commanding officers will want to know what happened in Vermillion."

Robert nodded, at first he didn't know if he should trust him, but if he could call in a helicopter to take him to HQ, then he guessed that he could trust him.

The helicopter had touched down, but he wasn't planning on leaving on it. "I'm not going, Lenneth is still back there, and I'm not going to leave her." Robert said sternly.

Owen had no idea who this 'Lenneth' was, all he knew that this soldier potentially had important information. "If you don't get on that helicopter, you're as good as discharged from the army, is that what you want?" Owen questioned, hoping it would convince him to change his mind.

"I'm going back for Lenneth, and there's not a damn thing you, or any of your friends here, can do to stop me." The soldier told him as he stormed off back down the dirt road towards Vermillion.

Owen felt like bashing his own head off the overturned car.

'Nice one Owen, not only did you piss of your leader for the team you're building and his soon to be wife, but you have also pissed off someone who may have vital information on the Vermillion attack. I'm really bad with other people.' Owen thought to himself as he watched the soldier with the sniper rifle and bruised face walking back down to Vermillion.

Soon a voice crackled into Owen's earpiece, this time it was the sound of the male pilot's voice. "Hey, is that guy getting on or what? I have other pick ups to make." The pilot told Owen.

Owen pressed on the little button on the side of his earpiece to respond. "No, he's not coming." He responded

"I'm sorry but I have my orders." The pilot's voice replied as the helicopter began to lift off the ground again.

Owen's attention turned to Bruce who was now running towards the helicopter that had taken off. "Hey, wait! Ah, what the fuck! Does anyone want to tell me why we aren't getting on the military helicopter that has Miniguns on it?" Bruce yelled with anger.

"That helicopter wasn't meant for us." Owen said as he looked for the soldier that now seemed to have disappeared.

Bruce looked around for the soldier and quickly looked back at Owen. "If it was for him then how come he isn't fucking on it!" Bruce asked loudly.

"Oh fuck this shit... Now how the fuck are we supposed to get the fuck out of here?" Bruce asked cynically.

"The car." Owen answered.

"Wait... the car? In case you haven't noticed, it's parked on its fucking roof!" Bruce shouted.

"Then we'll just have to get it upright again." Owen said with a smirk.

30 minutes later...

"FUCKING PUSH!" Bruce shouted out as Richard, Tera, Owen, himself and even Kiara gave one final push to get the big armored car back on its wheels.

The car was now upright, and everyone was exhausted. Everyone entered the battered car, although one of its doors was jammed, the same one that no longer had bullet proof glass.

The dossiers were scattered all about the floor, one in particular caught Bruce's eye. "The war hero." Bruce read out a loud. "Does someone want to tell be why my whole fucking life is written down on a piece of paper?" Bruce questioned with annoyance in his voice.

"It was necessary to know everything about you." Owen answered as the car sputtered to life.

Bruce already hated him, he felt like punching him, but he always felt that way around authority. Bruce decided it was best just to say nothing and take out a bottle of whiskey from his large backpack. He savored the taste as the liquid met his tongue.

Kiara watched as Bruce drank up half of the bottle in one gulp. 'Does it really taste that good?' Kiara thought to herself.

As Owen started to drive down to the nearest city or town, his contact's voice soon rung in his ear again. "The pilot just called, he said that the soldier isn't on board. Want to tell me why?" The female voice questioned.

"He didn't want to, personal issues." Owen replied.

"The guys at HQ aren't going to like this, but it sounds like there wasn't really anything you could do. You currently do not have any additional orders or requests, you may proceed with the mission as you see fit." The female's voice said as it crackled out once more.

Owen was glad to hear it; he didn't want anything to interfere with the mission.

Kiara stared at Bruce with a big smirk on her face, it annoyed Bruce. "What?" Bruce asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Aren't you going to thank me?" Kiara questioned as her smirk grew into a grin.

Bruce knew what she was talking about, but he had no intention to let her enjoy her moment. "For what?" Bruce responded whilst lifting the bottle of whiskey to his lips.

"For saving your drunken ass of course!" Kiara said teasingly.

Bruce frowned as he leaned forward and said, "I didn't need your help. The day I do is the day hell freezes over, Snorlax's fly and I'm sober."

Kiara could see she was getting to him, and she enjoyed it. "I'm guessing the first two will happen before you're ever sober." She said, still grinning.

"Ha fucking ha! Keep your mouth shut and I might not throw you out of this fucking moving tin can." Bruce said as his eyes went over to the window with no glass. He laughed a little as he imagined himself throwing the Glaceon out of the window and watching her roll on the ground as soon as she hits it.

Kiara could see him laughing about something. "What are you laughing about?" She asked, slightly confused.

Bruce just gave a smirk and replied, "Give it time and you'll find out sooner or later."

Richard and Tera sat quietly together, they didn't care where they were going, and the only thing on their minds was each other. Richard held Tera's paw in hand, it hurt them both to think that they could be arrested if somebody saw them showing how they felt about each other.

They both looked out of the window that was not smashed as they entered the City. They saw houses and shops, untouched by Silas and his men. They only saw a few people in the streets, they must have heard about what happened to Vermillion. Richard and Tera were just glad that they were safe now.

Owen's eyes scanned the buildings, shops and houses until he found what he was looking for, a hotel. He guessed that the group earned a break after the day they just had.

15 minutes later...

Richard was in his hotel room; Owen had bought them all each a single room to avoid any suspicions of Richard and Tera being in a relationship. Richard sat down on his single bed, even though it was a nice room, something didn't feel right with it.

He knew why that was; it was because Tera wasn't there with him. Even though Tera was in the room next to him, Richard still felt a little lonely. Richard heard a knock on the door, and he had a good idea as to who it was. Richard opened the door to find Tera standing there. "Tera, come in." Richard suggested as he opened the door a little more for her.

Tera walked into Richard's room and sat on the edge of his bed as he closed the door behind her. Richard sat down on the bed besides her and asked, "How's your room?"

"Its fine, but it feels too..." Tera trailed off as Richard finished her sentence for her. "Lonely?"

Tera looked up to Richard and smiled, she felt good knowing that Richard felt how she felt. "Yes, I don't think I'll be able to sleep in there, not without you anyway." She said as she placed one paw on the side of his face.

Richard stroked the back of her head as their lips met, and their tongues danced around in each other's mouths. Together, they lay on the single bed as they silently made out.

Meanwhile...

Bruce walked over to his bed after taking a piss; he stumbled as he did, still drunk. He fell onto his bed and switched on the small TV in his room. "Gah, nothing but shit!" He said as he flicked through the channels, seeing nothing but crappy talk shows and news with boring old men reading stuff with very boring voices.

"What's with all of these frilly chatty bitchy talk shows?" He angrily asked himself as he watched some women talking about something, he wasn't listening to them, he was just hoping a fight might break out after some woman running out of the side of the stage and shouted at some other woman, but she was held back by two big men with 'Security' written on their backs.

"Aw, what are you fuckers doing? Let her fight!" He shouted as the woman was pulled back by the two big men. "Ah fuck it!" He said as he switched off the TV and lay on his side on the bed.

The pain came back to him. His back still hurt, but it felt better, and it wasn't bleeding anymore.

Owen was bored, sitting in his room and inspecting his pistol. It was a well made, and light weight but he didn't recognize the make. Its clip held 15 bullets, its grip was some kind of black metal but the rest was chrome.

He eventually stopped examining his gun and thought about the mission, and all the other missions he had been on. His first mission as a agent was his worst, it frightened him, he still had nightmares about it, at one point, he thought he was going insane.

He had become a lot more paranoid and cautious since then, as well as gaining a fear of the dark. Sometimes, he could hear the chanting that he heard at that island as clear as talking to someone. He never told anyone about what really happened there, he thought nobody would believe him, nobody but his contact, Rhea.

Owen wasn't afraid of this mission, although there was a high risk that he may die. He had nobody close to him, the only person he has had regular contact with was his contact, and he didn't even know what she looked like. Owen walked over to the window; he looked out of it and thought about what was to come next.

Kiara was outside, just walking around the streets; again she had opted to not take a room. Even if she could open those damn doors, she wouldn't want to sleep in there anyway. Too warm for her liking.

She did what she did best, she watched random people, looking for anything interesting although the people around here seemed too normal to be interesting. Kiara felt energetic today, more so than usual. She spent most of the day running around the City, hoping that she might run into something dangerous to take out her extra energy, and her hate for Bruce.

She had no such luck though, and she began to think about ways to annoy Bruce. A small smile crept to her face as she remembered how pissed off he became when he found out his vodka got smashed, and that's when it hit her. She was going to make Bruce pay for being a jackass towards her.

* * *

**Author's note: Sorry this one took a little longer than usual, but i was also working on the spin-off to this story. Anyways, big thanks to Infinity Warrior and Hironada as usual! And thank you guys for reading my story!**


	26. The Avenger

10 hours later...

Richard and Tera came back to the hotel after looking around the City for something to do. They lovingly made out on the single bed, Richard's hands stroked Tera's silky smooth fur as her paws pulled him closer to her. They only pulled out of their deep kisses to whisper how much they loved each other. They looked each other in the eyes, although they were enjoying the moment of passion, it wasn't enough. They wanted to make love to each other, to give each other that feeling of sheer pleasure shooting through them again, but they couldn't with out fear that they may get caught. It hurt them both to think that they could be arrested just for showing their love. They both wanted to go back home, where they could love each other without fear of being arrested, where they could spend the rest of their lives with each other. They didn't voice what they were thinking though, all they wanted to do is just kiss and lose all their thoughts as they retreated to the warmth of each other's mouths.

Together, they lay on the bed, it was small and uncomfortable but Richard and Tera didn't want to sleep without each other.

Meanwhile...

Bruce woke up in his room and grumbled, "Ugh, I feel like shit." He got up and put a hand on his aching head before walking over to the bathroom. He now looked at himself in the mirror over the bathroom sink, that's when he remembered the cuts on his back.

He turned around and looked at his back in the mirror, he could see his T-shirt was partly ripped around his back, he could also see a long thin cut on his back through his T-shirt.

"Shit." He silently cussed. "Should have changed shirts when I left that shit hole I call home." He thought out loud as he turned his attention to the toilet to take a piss.

Owen was just watching some TV from the bed he sat on when Rhea's voice called him through his earpiece. "Owen, are you there?" She asked.

Owen pressed down the button on the earpiece and said, "Yeah, is there something wrong?" Owen replied, always expecting the worst.

"Bad news and good news, the bad news is that an agent who had successfully infiltrated Silas' ranks has been executed by Silas himself, not only that but a video of his execution has leaked all over the internet." She begun.

So far, so bad.

"The good news is that a group of soldiers have come across a soldier who was stationed at vermillion, and his Gardevoir. They are alive and well, the soldier will be questioned at HQ." Rhea informed Owen.

"Good, do you have any information on any of the recruits' locations?" Owen asked.

"Well it is thought that 'The Avenger' and his Scyther are somewhere within Kanto, 'The Medic' is still in Johto and 'The Sniper' is currently carrying out mission in Unova." Rhea told him.

"Inform me of the exact location of 'The Avenger' as soon as you are told." Owen said.

"Affirmative." Rhea answered as her voice crackled out.

Owen sighed; he wanted to talk to her a little longer.

It was now dark, and Kiara was still outside. Things had gotten a little more interesting for her. Kiara had seen a number of military vehicles passing through the city and towards Vermillion since they arrived there.

She had also heard a few distant sounding gunshots and explosions, she wanted to rush towards them, but she decided not to stray too far away from the group.

There also now seemed to be soldiers in the city too, she had seen a few walking in pairs down some streets. Kiara's plan to piss off Bruce had to be put on hold because when she went looking for his backpack in the car; it was gone, taken by him.

Kiara had found a nice spot to sleep in, bushy, cool, surrounded by trees and out of sight, but she wasn't sleepy, not yet.

The next day...

Richard and Tera climbed into the back of the battered car, joining Bruce and Kiara.

Richard's eyes went over to Bruce's backpack that was now open, it was full of drinks; brandy, gin, absinthe, tequila, rum, beer, and nearly every alcoholic drink seemed to be stored in Bruce's backpack.

There was even a glass bottle with duct tape that read, 'White Russian'.

Kiara watched as Bruce grabbed a beer, opened it up and drank half of it in one swig. "How are you still alive?" Kiara asked the alcoholic man in front of her.

Bruce let out a little chuckle when he answered, "I'm not sure, but I wonder the same about you. How the hell did a rat like you take out that sniper anyway?"

"The same way I saved your sorry drunken ass from the Rhyhorn, you never did thank me for that by the way." Kiara replied with a frown.

"And I never will. I could have taken him." Bruce said as he took another mouthful of beer.

"You could have taken him whilst on your back? Doubtful." Kiara replied snappily.

"Hey, I've won plenty of fights on my back!" Bruce quickly retorted.

Owen tried to block out the argument behind him as he drove the car away from the city. Rhea had contacted him once more since last night to inform him of the location of 'The Avenger'.

5 minutes later...

Bruce and Kiara were silently staring at each other, giving threatening looks. As Kiara stared at Bruce, she thought of ways to piss him off. She plotted deviously, a smile crept to her face when she thought about how angry he would get if she actually went through with her plans.

Richard and Tera leaned against each other. They were both concerned for each other.

He gently stroked her paw as she cuddled up to him. They knew that where ever they were going to next, would put them in danger again, so they just tried to enjoy the time that they will spend with each other as much as possible.

Only when Richard thought about how the next mission, could put both of them in danger, did he quickly realize that he didn't know where they were going to. He thought about asking, but he didn't.

He just silently rested with Tera; he didn't want to worry her by bringing up what was next when she looked so peaceful. Her eyes were closed, but she was still awake. Richard couldn't help but think, 'She's the most beautiful thing in the world.'

Lovingly, he let her lean on him and he pulled her into a loose hug, comforting her.

Bruce noticed how close the man and Lucario were sitting to each other.

'They look... close. I wonder if that guy is doing her... Nah, it's illegal... Here anyway. No, he's just... Wait; did I just see him stroke her? Alright, he has to be doing her! Or is he? Ah fuck, I'll probably find out for sure later anyway.' Bruce thought to himself.

Owen kept his eyes on the road and thought about how he should approach 'The Avenger', that's when he said, "Richard, you should read through the dossier entitled 'The Avenger', he's our next recruit."

Richard let out a sigh; he was hoping that Owen wouldn't say that. Fortunately for Richard, the dossier that he looked for was right besides him so he wouldn't disturb Tera by picking it up, although the other dossiers were scattered on the car floor. He picked it up and looked through it.

'The Avenger.'

Recruit number: #9079

Name: Louis 'Lou' Toney.

Age: 22

Background info: Louis was orphaned during Silas' first ever major attack on Viridian City, his brother was taken as a slave during the attack, and the current disposition of his brother is unknown. Louis was captured but reportedly rescued by a male Scyther (Reaper).

Louis, Reaper and two others fled the city in a car. Louis and Reaper were taken in by young newlyweds Sharon and David Loyd in Pewter City. Louis has trained himself with the help of Reaper to become an adept fighter.

At the age of 18, Louis and Reaper left Pewter City in search of high ranking members of Silas' army involved in the attack on Viridian City to avenge those who lost their lives in the attack. Nearly all of Silas' highest ranks that were involved in the attack are now dead.

Height: *estimation* 5 foot 10 inches.

Place of birth: Kanto.

Richard noticed that the picture was missing, probably shaken out of the dossier when the Rhyhorns rammed the car. He set down the dossier, having seen enough.

Richard turned his attention to Tera who now looked like she was sleeping, her head rested against his arm. 'I'm so lucky to have her.' He thought to himself.

Her beautiful face, with the sunlight peering through the windows and reflecting on her face, making it brighter in turn.

5 minutes later...

The car now arrived at Celadon City; it was mainly made up of large sky scrapers and other large buildings. Owen pressed the little button on his earpiece.

"Rhea, were in the city now, what's the current position of 'The Avenger'?" He asked into the small microphone attached to the earpiece.

"He's near you, stop the car." Rhea advised.

Owen did as she said and stopped the car; he also began looking into the windows of the sky scrapers to see if he could spot whoever was giving her this information. He couldn't see anyone suspicious but he did see man walking with a Scyther a little further down the street.

The young man was wearing a dark blue denim jacket, jeans and a blue baseball cap that he wore back to front. Owen could also see that the young man had light brown hair, and the end of the Syther's claws appeared to have been painted red. "Let's go, only take your handguns and keep them hidden." Owen told the group sitting in the back as he climbed out of the car and closed the door behind him.

Richard gently shook Tera to wake her. "Tera, we have to go now." He whispered to the tired Lucario besides him.

Tera's eyes fluttered open and she gave a yawn, showing her fangs, as she asked, "Go where?"

"I don't know, but were recruiting someone else." Richard answered as he got up and opened the car door.

Richard, Tera, Kiara and Bruce followed Owen who was walking quickly past the crowd of people and towards the man with the Scyther.

Owen thought that getting the man's attention and approaching him in public was the best way to get him to listen to him without thinking they work for Silas. "Louis!" Owen called out to the man on the sidewalk.

The young man stopped and looked to the man that called his name. "You mean me?" Louis asked once the man and his group were close enough.

Owen stopped walking when he saw the Scyther's right claw twitch slightly; he knew that Scyther's could be defensive, and aggressive.

"My name is Owen, and I'm here to recruit you into our specialist team we are building to take down Silas and his entire army, and hopefully, any criminal organizations his army has spawned." Owen said with confidence behind his words.

Louis had a surprised and confused expression on his face. 'They don't look like slavers... Is this man really telling the truth?' He thought to himself. "Why should I or my friend here join you?" Louis asked the man in front of him.

Owen had already planned out what he was going to say to convince his recruits, he had been planning it for about a month. "I know you're looking for the people, who were involved in the attack on Viridian City, join us and I'll give you the location of Ryan Lexer." Owen said.

Louis' looked down to the ground when he mentioned Ryan; the mere mention of his name was enough to make him sick. "Ryan... Fine, we'll join you, but you have to give me his location first." Louis sternly stated.

Owen knew he was going to say that. "He moves around a lot, and he's in Kanto right now. If you're planning to kill him, then you better do it soon so it doesn't interfere with the mission." Owen told him.

"I will." Louis replied.

"Good, I'll make it our first priority. Follow us." Owen informed as he and the group walked back to the car.

Louis looked over to his Scyther, Reaper, who now had a look of distrust on his face. "I think we can trust them, just watch them carefully." Louis stated as he then followed the group back to their car.

Reaper didn't like it, but he followed Louis anyway.

5 minutes later...

Owen had explained everything in full to Louis and Reaper; he had also told him that his contact would give him information on Ryan Lexer whereabouts as soon as his position becomes known.

Bruce looked over to the new guy that sat besides him, and the Scyther. "What's your name?" He asked in his usual casual drunken tone.

"My name is Louis, and this is Reaper." Louis replied motioning to the Scyther besides him.

Bruce gave him an odd look. "Err, Reaper? The Scyther? Who named him?" Bruce questioned.

"Well, me actually; I named him when I was 12, so please, don't give me crap about his name. What are your names anyway?" Louis asked the man besides him, who had a rather strong scent of alcohol on him.

"Bruce. The blue rat is Kiara." Bruce informed as he pointed over to the Glaceon sat on the opposite seat.

Louis then looked over to the man and Lucario. "And your names?" He asked the two sitting opposite to him.

"My name is Richard; this is my soul mate, Tera." He replied as he hugged the blushing Lucario.

Bruce's head perked up and he shouted out, "I knew it! Knew it! Knew it! Knew it! I fucking knew it! Shit! I should have placed a bet or something."

Kiara looked at him with a frown and said, "Are we going to add 'gambler' to your list of charming features now?"

"Depends, are you going to bitch about it?" Bruce quickly responded.

Louis, Richard and Tera ignored the argument now flaring up between Bruce and Kiara as Louis asked a question. "That's illegal isn't it? Your relationship I mean."

Richard was the one to respond. "Over here, yes. But back in Hoenn and Johto which is where Tera and I come from, it isn't. No law will stop me from loving Tera." Richard proudly stated as he looked back over to the Lucario he adores.

Louis found Richard's and Tera's relationship strange to say the least, he wanted to ask why they aren't with members of their own species, but seeing as he only just met them and he didn't know what to expect from them, he kept quiet.

Good thing too.

3 hours later...

Owen had given Louis his communicator and translator; he had also bought camping equipment from one of the stores in the City. They were now just on the outskirts of the City in a hotel, Owen had decided that there wasn't much it could do today except wait for Rhea to contact him, and that could take a day or two.

Owen did not take a room for the night, instead deciding to spend it in the car, he didn't want to leave the car outside unprotected when it had become quite vital in their mission, especially not when it had a smashed out window.

Bruce opened up another beer as he watched TV; he was watching the same show he watched at the other hotel. This time, he watched as a man charged at the other man seated with the host of the show.

One of the men was sleeping with someone's girlfriend, but Bruce didn't watch it for their stories, he watched it because he wanted to see some one get punched. "Go on, knock him out!" Bruce yelled as the charging man was grabbed by two big security guys.

"Oh fuck you guys! You ruin everything!" He shouted out as he watched the other man get out of his seat and run over to the man being held by security. Bruce cheered as the man being held by security managed to kick the man running towards him right in the testicles.

More security filled the stage as both men were held down.

After watching the show, Bruce did his thing in his room, drinking, passing out, waking up then drinking some more, before taking a piss.

Kiara stayed outside again, but she knew that this was going to be boring. There were no people nearby to watch, and Bruce had once again taken his backpack with him into his room. It was way too early to get some sleep, so instead she just scouted out the area.

Louis and his Scyther, Reaper, were now sat in Louis' room for the night. Although Louis had been given the communicator/translator from Owen and even wore it, he still hadn't talked to Reaper.

He had lived 10 years of his life with Reaper, and he had never heard him say a single thing that he could understand apart from its race name. Louis sat on the single bed watching TV as Reaper sat on the wooden chair in the room and watched TV with him.

They both silently watched the TV, until Louis finally decided to speak up. "What do you think of these people?" He asked.

Reaper just shrugged and continued to watch the TV.

"You know, you could try to speak to me." Louis said.

Reaper looked over to Louis and finally spoke. "What's the point... That device is probably just trash anyway." He mumbled.

Louis was surprised that the thing actually worked, and he could hear Reaper just as clear as talking to another human. Louis also noticed how rough and strange Reaper's voice was, it sounded like his voice was vibrating.

"This isn't trash, it works. I can hear you." Louis said, surprise lingered in his voice.

"Really? Well... that's something." Reaper replied. Reaper wasn't used to talking, even with other Pokemon. He kept to himself, but now that he could talk to the one person that he stood and thought by, and even in a way, raised, he didn't know what to say to him.

Louis could tell that Reaper wasn't used to talking, but he tried to strike a conversation with him. "So then, what do you think of the people that picked us up?" Louis asked.

"Hmm, they have weapons; some seem more dangerous than others." Reaper replied as he looked at his own bladed arms.

Reaper had allowed Louis to spray paint the ends and edges of his scythe like bladed arms, he had allowed him to do it because it seemed like a good idea, it set him apart from any other Scyther and it intimidated certain people Louis and Reaper interrogated for information.

"Any people that stick out?" Louis asked.

"Yes, the drunk. He has dog tags; now either he is a soldier, a former soldier, or just a man with a dead soldier's dog tags. Why would they even bring a drunk along? The agent, there is something about him, strange, I don't know what though. The others, I don't know, they seem a little harder to read, or maybe there is just nothing to read." Reaper told him.

"The drunk, what was his name again... I think it was Bruce, anyway, did you notice that he had a backpack full of alcohol with him?" Louis asked.

"Yes, I did." Reaper answered.

"Why would they allow him to get drunk on an important mission like this?" Louis questioned.  
"I don't know." Reaper flatly replied.

Louis could see that Reaper was getting tired of his constant questions, so he said nothing more and started watching TV again.

Reaper watched the TV again, he liked the silence between them, but there was one question that he wanted to ask Louis. "What are you going to do when you find him?" Reaper asked.

Louis knew who he was talking about. "Kill him, maybe torture him first." Louis answered as he continued watching TV.

"And what will you do after that?" Reaper asked.

Louis looked back over to Reaper and gave his answer. "I don't know, I haven't given it much thought. I guess I'll just join these people and their mission to take down Silas, but if we actually manage to do that... Then I don't know what I'll do."

"Maybe you should start thinking about that then." Reaper replied as he turned his attention back to the TV.

Louis wasn't expecting him to say that, but he thought about it anyway.

Richard and Tera were now in a room together, enjoying each other's hard kisses as they sat on the double bed. Fortunately, the last room available was this room. Tera slowly pulled out of the kiss, but only to whisper a few words into Richard's ear. "I love you Richard."

Richard smiled as his Lucario princess wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. "I love you too Tera." He whispered back to her.

"I can't wait to get back home." She quietly said.

"Me too. As soon as we get back, I promise, we'll get married." Richard quietly promised with a smile.

Tera looked back into his eyes. "Then I hope we get back even sooner." She said as she gave him a little kiss on his cheek.

Richard stroked the side of her face; he couldn't help but admire her beauty. "You're so beautiful." he whispered before he slowly kissed her.

"I love you so much." She whispered after the kiss, staring into his eyes, which she very much loved. "I love you as well Tera." Richard replied, giving her, yet, another kiss.

Meanwhile...

Owen sat outside in the driver's seat of the car; he was reading a magazine that he picked up when he was buying camping equipment. It was a gaming magazine, he never told anyone but he was actually an avid gamer.

Owen heard something outside the car, sounded like footsteps. He set down his magazine and grabbed his handgun as he looked out of the window for the source of the noise. He soon saw an elderly man walking by with his dog, Owen let out a little chuckle as he set down his gun.

"I'm getting a little too jumpy." He chuckled to himself as he picked up his magazine again.

Suddenly, Owen felt the air around him get colder as a chill was sent down his spine and words were silently whispered to him. 'Still here.' Owen immediately picked up his gun and spun around, aiming his gun at the empty back seats.

"What the fuck?" Owen asked himself as he looked around the car, just to confirm that no one was in the car with him.

Owen soon relaxed again and sat back in his seat, but he did keep looking behind him. "The paranoia is getting to me again." He said to himself.

This wasn't new to him; he had been suffering from hallucinations and paranoia since his first mission. He learned to block most of it out, but when he was alone and relaxed, that's when it usually kicked in.

Owen stepped outside of the car, he felt like he needed to breath in fresh air. He looked back into the windows of the car again, checking that there really wasn't anyone in there. Soon, a voice crackled into his ear, he was just glad that he recognized this one.

"Owen, are you there?" Rhea's voice crackled into his ear.

Owen pressed the little black button on the earpiece as he gave his reply. "Yeah, I'm here." Owen responded in a slightly depressed tone.

"Something wrong? You sound a little down." Rhea said.

"I'm fine, think I might be just a little overworked though." Owen replied.

"I don't think I've ever heard say your overworked." Rhea responded.

"Yeah, maybe I'm getting too old for this." Owen stated with a fake chuckle.

"Hey, your only 37. You're not that old." Rhea told him.

"I'm only 3 years away before I hit 40. I'm feeling kind of ancient right now. Anyway, I'm sure you didn't just call to check up on me, what's happened now?" Owen asked.

"Nothing, I just called because I have some spare time. You're not doing anything important right now are you?" Rhea asked.

Owen didn't believe her; he thought that the person or people that feed her information must have been watching him when he freaked out in the car. But he wasn't about to ask her if that was the case.

"No, not right now." Owen told her as he sat on the bonnet of the car.

"Good, so, how do you think the mission is going?" Rhea asked.

"I think its going as well as I expected, and I wasn't expecting it to be easy. Right now the mission is on hold for today until we can get that info on Ryan and the rest of the recruits." He started as he looked from side to side, looking around to see if anyone was watching him.

He thought he could feel somebody watching him, but maybe that was just the paranoia.

"I'll tell you as soon as I get that information." Rhea informed.

"Thanks, so what do you think about this mission?" Owen inquired.

"I think this may be one of the most important missions any agency has ever launched, if we fail, then Silas and his men have the power to take over a whole region, maybe even all of them. If we win, then Silas and his army will be destroyed, along with nearly every criminal organization that he helped build." Rhea told him.

Owen already knew what was at stake, hearing Rhea say it though just felt like a weight was placed on his shoulders. "We won't fail, with the strong allies and people we already have, Silas will have one hell of a fight on his hands." Owen replied with optimism.

"He will, but that doesn't mean we have already won." Rhea said.

Owen let out a sigh and asked, "You just had to bring the mood down again didn't you?"

That night...

Bruce woke up in his room in the middle of the night once again, feeling like crap. "Oh, fuck me." He moaned as he sat upright in his hotel room bed and stretched his arms out whilst yawning.

Bruce unsteadily got up out of his bed and began his blind search for his backpack in the dimly lit room. "I can't see shit!" He thought out loud as he got on all fours and felt around the floor for his backpack until he finally found it.

"There you are my little beauties!" He said as he opened up his backpack and grabbed some whiskey. He drank it straight out of the bottle as he lay back down on his bed.

Louis was now asleep on the bed and Reaper was sleeping uncomfortably on the wooden chair.

Richard and Tera both cuddled up to each other under the covers of the bed. Tera looked at the man she loves as she placed her paw on the side of his face.

Richard did the same as he looked into her eyes. Their legs moved against each other as they both moved closer, and their lips met. They were drawn into a long hot wet kiss.

Kiara was now scouting out the nearby forest for both danger, and pecha berries. She knew that if she could find some, then she could find more.

Owen still sat in the car, he had convinced himself that no one was in the car, and it was just his paranoia making him hear things. He read through the same pages of the magazine that he had already read, he couldn't concentrate, and he still felt like someone was there with him.

He put down his magazine and sat back in his seat as he looked at the fingerless combat gloves on his hands, they were armored around the knuckles to inflict more damage in hand-to-hand combat situations.

Owen could have sworn that he heard a shuffling noise just behind the car; he guessed it was his paranoia but he knew he couldn't take a chance. Owen grabbed his silenced handgun and got out of the car to investigate the noise.

He closed the door behind him and walked towards the back of the car, carrying his handgun in both hands. Owen quickly looked around the back of the car and found nothing. He was relieved, but that sense of relief was only temporary as he soon heard the same shuffling noise behind him.

Owen spun around lifted and aimed his handgun towards a man in a black viper's uniform. The uniform was made up of a black Kevlar vest with a black T-shirt underneath it that had two red stripes on the shoulders both bearing the emblem of Silas' army, completely black combat trousers and combat boots.

The viper's face was covered with a black balaclava.

The viper grabbed Owen's hands in which he held the gun and bashed them off the side of the armored car twice before Owen dropped his gun and gave the viper a powerful kick to the stomach to push him away.

Owen noticed that the viper wasn't armed, so he kicked his own silenced hand gun under the car so no one could get to it and took up a fighting stance.

The viper did the same, right before throwing a straight punch towards Owen.

Owen quickly blocked the punch with his elbow before sending his own fist to the viper's jaw. The viper stumbled a little to the side, but still completely in the fight. The viper responded with a flurry of punches and kicks.

Owen got punched to the side of the head before receiving another punch to the left side of his rib cage, but he managed to grab the viper's leg when he tried to kick at his head with a roundhouse kick.

Owen violently tugged the viper's leg once in his direction, making the viper fall on his back.

Owen twisted the viper's foot quickly and stopped once he heard dislocating and the viper screaming. The viper wasn't willing to let him get away with that though, the viper launched a high sweeping kick towards Owen's face.

Owen the powerful kick connect with the side of his face and stumbled over as he held his cheek before quickly regaining his composure and running over to the viper that now had both of his hands near his ankle as he growled in pain.

Owen knelt down on the viper's chest and grabbed him tightly by the neck, not enough to choke him, but enough to constrict the viper's windpipe so that he could not scream.

Owen knew that he probably wasn't going to get any information out of this viper; they were well trained to deal with pain and interrogation. But he tried anyway.

"What does Silas know? What were your orders and why do you have no weapons?" Owen inquired as he put extra pressure both on the viper's chest and neck.

The viper said nothing, instead he cautiously reached inside one of his trouser pockets and searched around for something, but Owen didn't notice this. "Tell me, or you will die right here, right now." Owen threatened, he wasn't really going to kill him, just knock him out and call Rhea for a pick up on the viper. Only when Owen told him this though did he notice that the viper had pulled out a switch blade.

Owen didn't have enough time to think about his actions he just put out his left hand to defend himself as the viper tried to stab him in the chest. Owen shouted out in pain as he felt and saw the blade go right through the middle of his hand, he shouted even more when the viper twisted the blade.

Owen slammed down his fist down onto the viper's face; the armored knuckles on his gloves did their job and ensured that his punches caused maximum damage. By the sixth time he punched the viper in the face, he couldn't tell if the viper was unconscious or dead.

Owen quickly pushed himself off the viper and leaned on the car as he prepared himself to remove the blade out of his hand.

He took a deep breath and quickly grabbed the switch blade by its handle and yanked it out. He bit down lightly on his own tongue as he tried to stop himself from shouting out again. "Shit." He quietly said to himself as he felt the pain very very slowly subsiding.

Owen looked back over at the viper and walked towards him to check for a pulse. He crouched down besides him and checked for a pulse, he found one, but it was faint.

He then looked underneath the car for his gun which he quickly found and then grabbed with his right hand. He then made his way over to the hotel; he had to warn the others that it wasn't safe here anymore.

He also had to do something about his left hand, it was dripping with blood from the through and through wound in the middle of his hand. He pushed open the door and looked over to the man behind the reception desk which he was slumped over.

Owen walked over to the man, on closer inspection; he could see that the man's neck had been snapped. There were no signs of struggle which means he didn't see it coming.

Owen quickly lifted his gun towards the group he saw running down one of the corridors, but quickly lowered it when he realized that every teammate was in that group. Owen didn't want to waste time on explaining what was happening, instead he just yelled, "We have to get out of here, now!"

Richard, Tera, Bruce, Louis and Reaper all followed Owen out of the hotel and towards the car.

Kiara was on the bonnet of the car, she had rushed over when she heard shouting. She also kept watch on the unconscious man besides the car, but her attention was soon drawn to the hotel as she saw everybody running out of it and towards the car.

"What's going on?" She asked them, she noticed that Owen's hand was bleeding and the Scyther's claws were covered in blood. Kiara also noticed that Bruce still had that backpack with him.

Owen quickly responded to her as he opened up the car door and the others all climbed in. "No time to explain, get in."

Kiara quickly jumped off the bonnet and got into the back of the car.

Bruce looked over to Owen who was staring out of the driver's side window, at the viper. "Hey, why aren't we moving! When there are highly trained killers around, I prefer to be moving right the fuck away from them!" Bruce shouted at Owen.

"We have to take him with us." Owen replied as he opened up the car door.

"Wait, who... Oh fucking hell, you mean the cunt lying on the ground out side don't you? Well news flash, I AM NOT FUCKING BRINGING HIM IN THIS CAR!" Bruce angrily shouted at him.

"Fine then, I'll do it myself!" Owen yelled as he slammed the driver's side door behind him.

Richard looked outside as Owen tried to drag the viper closer to the car, but with his bleeding hand, he was struggling to do so. Richard let out a sigh and turned to Tera.

"I'm going outside to help Owen, I'll be right back." He told her as he gave her a kiss on the top of her head before quickly leaving the car.

Owen looked over to Richard who quickly moved towards the viper and hooking his arms around the viper's upper body before saying, "You take the legs."

"Thanks for helping me out." Owen thanked as he tried his best to support the viper's legs.

As Richard backed up towards the car, he decided now was a good time to ask Owen why he was doing this. "Not that I'm siding with Bruce, but why do you want to bring him with us?"

"He's got information, I know it. I'm going to contact the agency and they'll pick him up, and interrogate him." Owen informed as he let go of the viper's legs and opened up the back door to the car.

Richard threw him into the back of the car; he heard the viper's head bang off the metal floor, which made Bruce chuckle a little. Richard then turned his attention to Owen. "Did he do that to your hand?" Richard asked.

Owen looked at his bloody hand before answering. "Yes, he had a switch blade; he got me when I thought I had him."

"You should get that wound looked at." Richard suggested.

"I will, but first we have to get out of here." Owen replied as he climbed back into the car.

Richard got back into the back of the car and sat down besides Tera, who was now staring at the man in black.

Owen started up the car and drove off, he didn't know where they were going to go, but right now anywhere seemed better than at that hotel.

They drove, as the Black Vipers searched still for them.

* * *

**Author's notes: Okay, i would like to start off by saying sorry this one took longer than usual, i'll try to make the next chapter a little sooner. Also thank you again to Hironada and Warrior for reading and editing this. Also the spin-off has been posted, you can find it through my stories on my profile ^^**


	27. The mall

Louis and Reaper looked at the viper member on the floor of the car. "We should kill him now." Louis spat with hatred.

"Fucking agreed!" Bruce said as he pulled out his pistol and brought back the slide before pointing it at the viper's head.

"No, don't!" Owen quickly objected as he drove the car.

"Why the fuck not?" Bruce growled back.

"I didn't let the man who stabbed me live for no reason! He has information, and I'm going to get it!" Owen exclaimed as he tried his best to block out the pain he felt in his hand and drove one-handed.

Bruce reluctantly put away his gun and mumbled profanities as he leaned back in his chair.

Louis looked at the man that works for Silas, he thought about torturing him to get whatever information he had.

Richard held Tera's paw, he noticed that she had a look of shock on her face. "Tera, are you alright?" He asked softly.

Tera looked back over to him and answered him. "That man, He's wearing the same uniform..." Tera trailed off.

"The same uniform? What do you mean?" Richard confusedly asked.

"He's wearing the same uniform as the people who killed my clan!" Tera almost shouted with both anger and sadness in her voice as she glared with hatred at the man on the floor.

Her shouting caught the attention of the others in the car as well. Tera felt like both ripping the man on the floor apart and breaking down and crying. "T-they shouldn't just get away with that!"

Richard had never heard her this angry, he could see the hate in her face for the man on the car floor; she looked like she wanted to rip the man's throat out.

Richard wanted to calm her. "They won't, and neither will he. We're going to take them all down." Richard replied with forced confidence.

Tera looked back over to Richard, she knew that the possibility of taking them all down was very slim, but his words made her feel slightly better. "What if we can't stop them?" Tera asked as the hate in her voice slowly faded.

"Then we try and get most of them, they won't get away with this. I promise." Richard reassured as he wrapped one arm around her to make her feel safer.

Tera didn't want to say anymore, she just rested her head on Richard's shoulder as he gave her a comforting hug, but she kept an eye on the man on the car floor at all times.

Louis thought about the people around him, he realized that he knew nothing about the team or why they were joined this mission. Seeing the Lucario upset about losing her clan to Silas' men brought back bad memories for him.

He wanted to know a little more about the team, but he knew now wasn't the best time to do that.

Owen was still driving away from the hotel, and as he did, he couldn't help but wonder why the team was running down the corridor back in the hotel, and why Reaper's blades were covered in blood. "What happened back there?" Owen asked.

Louis was the one to answer his question. "A viper attacked us; he would have killed me if Reaper didn't gut him first." He stated as he looked down to Reaper's bloody blades.

"There was only one viper? No vipers tried to attack anybody else?" Owen questioned.

Reaper was the one to answer him. "No, your squad heard the man's screams, and they found us."

"That Scyther tore the man in fucking half!" Bruce added as he searched around in his bag for some whiskey. "Pull over." Bruce commanded as he grabbed his whiskey.

"Why?" Owen asked.

"Just fucking do it." Bruce stated tiredly.

Owen did as he said and looked back over to the drunken ex soldier. Bruce leaned over the chair he was sat on and said, "Show me your hand."

Owen could see the bottle of whiskey in Bruce's hand; he knew what was coming next.

Bruce smiled; he wanted to see just how well the agent could take pain. "This is going to hurt like fuck." Bruce said right before he poured the alcohol on Owen's bloody hand.

Owen clenched his teeth and breathed in as he stopped himself from shouting out again because of the pain he felt, the burning, stinging sensation he felt in his hand.

"Shit." He quietly whispered to himself as Bruce stopped pouring whiskey on his wound and drank the rest that remained in the bottle.

Bruce threw the empty bottle out of the smashed out window. "I've got to hand it to you agent guy, you can take some pain!" Bruce shouted out. Seeing the blood and the violence around him made him want to fight, it got him hyped up.

Owen took off his jacket to rip off the left sleeve off his dark blue T-shirt and used it to cover his wound, it wasn't much but it was better than nothing.

5 minutes later...

Owen had received orders from Rhea to bring the viper he now had in the back of the car to a meeting point just outside of Cerulean City. Owen noticed the concern in Rhea's voice when he told her about his hand; he was glad that she cared about him.

Kiara watched as Bruce drank even more alcohol. "We were just attacked and you're getting drunk again?" Kiara questioned to the drunk in front of her.

"You should drink; maybe it would make you less of a bitch." Bruce replied before he drank some more beer.

"You should stop drinking, it wouldn't make you any less of an ass but it would stop you from smelling like a brewery." Kiara angrily shot back.

"I hate you." Bruce spat as he drank a little more beer.

"I hate you too." Kiara said back.

Owen looked around as he drove his car through a dirt path; he soon saw what he was looking for. Owen stopped the car, near by was a black van. "Stay here." Owen told the others in the back of the car as he got out of the car and walked over to the black van. "One-seven-seven." Owen said just loud enough for the driver of that van to hear.

The driver didn't get out of the van, but three other armed men did. They wore black Kevlar vests over black tactical jackets, black combat trousers, boots as well as balaclavas and tactical helmets to hide their identities.

There were no emblems, insignias or dog tags on these men, agents never wore any. "He's in the back." Owen informed to the men carrying P90 sub-machine guns as he walked back over to the car and opened up the back door.

Nobody said anything as the armed men dragged the viper out of the car and into the back of the van. Everybody was relieved that the viper was out of the car, especially Owen and Tera.

Two of the armed men climbed into the back of the van, but one talked to Owen. "Your contact will give you any information we can get from him, good luck on your mission." The armed man said before climbing into the back with the other men and closing the doors behind him.

Owen got back into his car as the black van drove off; he let out a sigh before speaking to the group in the back. "It's not safe to stay in hotels anymore; we're going to have to start camping." Owen told the group in the back.

Bruce had to say something. "Yeah, because it's so much safer sleeping in a dark forest." Bruce said with sarcasm in his drunken voice.

"It is actually, Silas has viper operatives in nearly every city, and they won't be expecting us to be camping out in the forest." Owen said as he started up the car.

"Fan-fucking-tastic! Now I have to fiddle around with tents and shit. I need a drink." Bruce cussed as he searched around in his backpack again.

Kiara glared at him as he took out some beer and cracked open the can. "Another one? Don't you think you've drank enough?" Kiara asked him.

"Well I'm still conscious, so no." Bruce replied with a smirk before he took a big gulp of beer.

"Ugh, you're worthless. All you do is drink and swear." Kiara insulted as she frowned at the man in front of her.

"And you're an ice queen, make yourself useful and chill my drinks." Bruce said as he took another swig of beer.

Kiara had a devious smile on her face when Bruce said that, she could already imagine his face after she went through with her plan, but now wasn't the time. "In your dreams drunkard." Kiara snappily replied.

"And you say I'm worthless." Bruce responded before he drank what was left of his beer and tossed the can out of the smashed out window.

15 minutes later...

Everybody was now in the woods; they had found a good spot to camp for the night. Kiara looked for more berries seeing as she had no luck back around the hotel. Richard and Tera had managed to get their tent up, just as Louis and Reaper did.

But Bruce gave up before he even really started. "Screw it; I'm not used to pitching tents... hah, pitching tents." Bruce quietly chuckled to himself as he began searching in his backpack for more booze.

Richard and Tera climbed into their tent as soon as they set it up. They both lay on their sleeping bags as they looked into each other's eyes. Richard knew Tera was hurt when she saw that viper; he wanted to make sure she felt okay. "How are you feeling?" Richard asked.

"Better, now I'm alone with you." Tera said as she looked to the man she loves. She decided to tell him what was really on her mind while they were finally alone together.

"I don't want anything bad to happen to you; those men that went after Owen and the others could have easily have gone for us. I don't know what I would do if you got hurt, or... Worse." She stated the last part as she looked down to her sleeping bag and tried to hide the tears that she felt coming to her eyes.

"Hey, come here." Richard comforted as he gave Tera a hug and rubbed her back. "Don't worry; I can take care of both you, and myself. I promise." Richard whispered to her as he felt her paws on his back. Richard hoped he could live up to all these promises he made to her.

Tera buried her face into Richard's chest, she always felt safer and calmer when she did this. "Richard?" Tera quietly asked.

"Yes?" Richard replied.

"Thank you." Tera thanked as she rubbed his back.

"For what?" Richard asked.

"For everything, staying by me, protecting me... Loving me." Tera stated as she looked back up to Richard.

Richard looked deeply into her amazing crimson eyes before responding. "I should really be thanking you for that." Richard replied with a smile before kissing the end of her snout.

Tera blushed lightly and smiled as she cuddled back up to him.

Richard stroked her back as Tera's arms wrapped around him. "You've given me so much; I love you more than anything else in the world." Richard told her as his hands continued to stroke her soft fur.

Tera looked into Richard's eyes and said, "I love you too Richard." Before she embraced him with kisses.

Owen was in the car, he decided that sleeping in the car would be the best option for him. He looked down to his left hand which was now bandaged by the sleeve he tore off his shirt, the dark blue sleeve on his hand was now stained red with blood, but it was barely visible.

As Owen looked down to his hand, he knew that he wasn't going to be getting much sleep tonight. Every time he tried to close his eyes, he heard some noise or the pain he felt in his hand just kept him awake. Suddenly, he heard Rhea's voice calling inside his ear again. "Owen, are you there?"

Owen pressed the button on his earpiece to reply, he was glad that he was right handed. "Yeah, I'm here. If you're calling about the mission then its going to have to wait for now, the team is tired and I doubt they would be willing to go anywhere right now." Owen told her.

"I'm not calling about the mission; I'm calling to ask how you are." Rhea replied.

"I've been better. I can't move my fingers on my left hand properly because of the pain and right now it's stopping me from sleeping." Owen stated.

"I'm surprised you're even trying to get to sleep." Rhea told him

"I need to get some rest for this mission, even if it's just for an hour or two. I prefer to be wide awake when I'm getting shot at." Owen responded.

"And I thought you said you were going to be careful." Rhea snapped back.

"Yeah, but there has been a change of plans since then. How have you been anyway?" Owen asked as he tried to get comfortable in the driver's seat.

"Tired, calling hundreds of people and searching for information on people who are practically ghosts is hard work. Also worrying for you and your team isn't helping." Rhea added.

"Well it's nice to know you worry for us, I'd be a little concerned if you didn't." Owen stated with a little chuckle.

"I've got to go, I'd ask you to be careful but I think we both know that's not going to happen." Rhea informed.

"Bye." Owen said as he heard a little crackle through the earpiece. Owen closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep again, he hoped that he would hear Rhea's voice again soon, even if it was to talk about the mission.

Bruce still hadn't managed to make his tent, but he didn't care as he had already passed out on his sleeping bag outside.

Louis was in his tent alone. Reaper was busy keeping watch outside, after getting recruited on a team planning to take down Silas and getting attacked by the black vipers, he was more alert than ever.

11 AM...

The team had woken up and was now packing up their stuff, with the exception of Owen and Kiara. Owen was sat in the car waiting for the others; he had received information from Rhea on the whereabouts of Ryan Lexer.

Kiara was laughing at Bruce who packed up his stuff and stumbled over himself as he tried to put all his camping stuff in the back of the car.

"Fucking camping shit. Fucking vipers. Fucking bugs. I can kill vipers, but I can't kill all these fucking bugs!" Bruce shouted as he swatted at some of the mosquito like flies that seemed to follow him.

'They really like him; I bet it's all that alcohol he drinks.' Kiara thought to herself as she giggled at him now trying to punch the flies out of the air.

"Little fucking shits!" He shouted as he punched at the flies, a little smirk came to his face as he knocked them out of the air.

Louis and Reaper ignored the drunk that was lashing out at the flies; they packed up their camping stuff and shoved it all into the boot of the car.

Louis had been thinking about what he was going to do to Ryan when he found him, he had thought of ways to torture him but keep him alive, he wanted him to suffer the most painful death possible.

Richard and Tera packed away their stuff and shoved it all into the boot of the car. They then climbed into the back of the car and sat at their usual seats. Richard looked behind Louis and Reaper, over to Owen. "How's the hand?" Richard asked the tired agent.

"Still hurting, but thanks for asking." Owen replied as he heard the car door opening and saw Bruce and Kiara joining the others in the back. Owen started up the car and the engine soon revved to life.

Louis knew that if they were moving, then they had a plan, he had not forgotten that the agent said he would make his search for Ryan his first priority. "Do you know where Ryan is?" Louis asked.

"Yes." Owen answered as he drove the car one-handed once again.

"Where is he? I've searched everywhere for him and always come up with nothing!" Louis exclaimed as he remembered the countless slavers that he had tortured and killed to get information on Ryan, they all seemed so sure of their information, but their info was always wrong.

"I'm not surprised, he evaded us too... Until now. He has a completely different life from his slaver life, were not even sure if Ryan is his real name. He has been living right here in Kanto for over 20 years now, he uses the name Raymond Luther. He lives in Cerulean City; if we're lucky then we can get to him before the vipers inform him that we know his fake identity." Owen told him.

"If we get him, will you stop me from killing him?" Louis questioned.

Owen thought about it, Ryan was a close friend to Silas; he could have extremely valuable information. But he knew that if he stopped Louis from killing him, there was a good chance that he would walk away from the mission.

Owen was having a hard time deciding what he should do, but then he remembered that he assigned Richard to be the leader, he decided now was the time to let him lead the team. "That depends on what our team leader here says, what do you say Richard?" Owen asked.

Richard looked over to Owen before looking towards Louis. Richard had no idea who this Ryan guy was, or why he wanted him dead. He decided to ask about the man before he decided on anything else. "I need to know more about this man before I let you kill him." Richard said.

Louis sat forward and got ready to tell him why he wants him dead so much.

"He killed my family; he took my brother, and almost took me. He's a slaver, he mostly deals with humans, he's a sick fuck, and he deserves to die." Louis finished as he felt the rage inside him starting to rise just thinking about the man that almost took his life away.

Richard could see he was telling the truth, he didn't have a hard time deciding what he should let Louis do. "We won't stop you from doing whatever you want to do to him." Richard answered.

"Glad to hear it." Louis replied as he sat back in his seat, and thought about what he would do once he comes face to face with the man that destroyed his life when he was only 11 years old.

Reaper looked to his own claws as he idly rubbed them together, sharpening them.

5 Minutes later...

They had now arrived in Cerulean City, Owen driven down the streets of the city as he received directions from Rhea, listening to her directions until she told him to stop.

"He's in there." Rhea told him.

Owen looked to the big shopping mall that he stopped just outside of. "He's in the shopping mall?" Owen asked just to confirm what he was thinking.

"Yes, the man you're looking for is wearing a green shirt with a black Houndoom on the front of it, blue loose fitting jeans held up by a black leather belt and black sneakers. He has jet black hair and is about 6 foot. He also seems to be armed with a 9mm pistol, so be cautious if one of you plan to approach him." Rhea informed.

"Got it." Owen replied.

"I'll update you on his location in the mall as soon as you enter it." Rhea finished before Owen heard the familiar crackling sound again.

Owen looked back to the group in the car; he realized that a large group like this would be spotted easily, even in a crowd.

"Louis, you should come with me. We'll track down Ryan, my contact will tell me where he is and I'll take you to him. What ever you do to him is between you and him. Reaper should go with the others to avoid any unwanted attention, a Scyther sticks out in a crowd, that's how I found you." Owen told them.

Richard sat upright and asked, "And what are we going to do?"

"Go shopping, act casual. Here, this should be enough for all of you, split it up between yourselves and I'll find you all once Ryan has been dealt with." Owen stated as he handed Richard a large wad of cash.

Richard couldn't believe how much money Owen had on him.

Bruce's jaw almost dropped when he saw the cash, and then he began thinking about one thing, buying more vodka.

"Fuck yeah! This doesn't make up the fact that I have been shot at... Twice, but it's a damn good start!" Bruce yelled as he took his share of the cash.

Kiara looked over to Bruce who flicked through the cash in his hand, counting it. "Oh great, now the drunkard is going to get his refill!" Kiara insulted with a sigh.

Bruce had a smile on his face as he looked at Kiara's disappointed expression. "Damn right I am! Maybe I should also buy a gag to shut you up too." Bruce exclaimed with a chuckle.

"Try gagging me and I'll rip your head off!" Kiara growled back.

"I guess not even a warm joke can melt the ice queen, maybe I'll buy a portable radiator just to piss you off." Bruce added as he smirked.

"You don't need any help pissing me off, you're annoying enough already. Besides, I know you wouldn't buy something like that. You'd be way to busy buying more drinks to shove down your stupid throat." Kiara stated hatefully

"Screw you." Bruce spat angrily as he grabbed his backpack and exited the car. Richard, Tera and Reaper followed them to the massive mall. Owen and Louis disused what they should do about Ryan, how they should approach him, and how they should kill him.

After a few minutes, Richard and Tera soon found themselves looking through the shops of the mall. Richard didn't really like shopping, but it gave him some time to spend with Tera so he really didn't mind.

As they walked past some of the shops, Richard's eyes locked onto one shop window, a jewelry shop. Richard looked at all the shiny gold and silver bracelets, necklaces and rings. He then began thinking about the wedding, what kind of ring he should get her was on his mind. But then another question popped into his head.

'Wait, how is Tera going to wear a ring?' He thought as he looked to her paws. Richard then looked to the silver necklace around her neck. 'I suppose she could just wear it on that.' Richard thought to himself before he began looking at the rings in the shop window again.

Tera noticed that Richard was walking slower and slower, she then noticed that he was looking over to the jewelry shop. "Want to take a look in there?" Tera asked.

Richard snapped out of his thoughts and looked back over to Tera, he felt embarrassed once he realized she had seen him staring at wedding rings like a zombie. "Err, we don't have to if you don't want to." Richard nervously stuttered.

Tera felt like laughing at the sight of seeing Richard so nervous. "Come on, let's take a look." Tera smiled as she led him over to the jewelry shop.

As they both walked into the jewelry shop, a woman wearing a blue formal business suit approached Richard and asked, "Hello, how can I help you?"

Richard tried hard to remember that Pokemon and human relationships are illegal here.

"Well, I'm getting married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and I was hoping that I could find a wedding ring that really shows how much I care about her." Richard stated as he struggled not to look behind him over to Tera to avoid any suspicion.

Tera felt happy hearing how much he cares about her; she could feel herself starting to blush.

"Well I'll see what we can find." The woman said as she went to find the special selection of rings.

After a couple of minutes of looking at rings, they came out of the shop. Richard had seen some nice rings, but nothing stood out. Richard's and Tera's attention soon turned to Kiara who was now walking towards them. "Hey, could you buy something for me?" Kiara asked.

"Sure, what do you want?" Richard asked.

"Err… Cheese." Kiara answered shyly.

Richard looked over to Tera to see her looking just as confused as he felt. "Cheese?" Richard repeated.

"Yeah, they have it at that shop over there but I can't hold the damn money for it!" Kiara complained as she looked down to her paws.

Richard had almost forgotten that she couldn't do much with her paws, "We'll buy it for ya, lead the way." Richard stated before Richard and Tera followed Kiara to another shop.

Kiara walked at quite a fast pace, almost breaking into a run as she navigated through the big shop full of shelves with food. Richard and Tera had to start jogging at one point just to keep up with her, until she stopped by one shelf and informed, "Here it is."

Richard picked up the block of cheese wrapped in see through plastic and read the label aloud. "Cheddar cheese..."

"Yep, love the stuff." Kiara said with a smile.

"Alright, anything else you want me to buy while we're here?" Richard asked.

"Nope." Kiara replied with a look of happiness on her face.

Seeing Kiara so happy over a block of cheese made both Richard and Tera smile and giggle a little. "Okay, what about you Tera, you see anything you want to buy?" Richard asked.

"No, I-" Tera stopped in mid sentence when everybody heard shouting coming from the back of the store.

"Stop!" One man shouted.

"Fuck off!" A familiar drunken voice shouted back.

Richard, Kiara and Tera watched as they saw Bruce running out of the shop with two bottles of vodka in his hands and two security guards running after him.

"Oh no, he didn't." Tera said out of disbelief.

"He did." Kiara responded flatly.

Only when Richard saw the last security guard running out of the shop did he soon realize something. "He had a lot of money to spend, why would he steal some vodka?" Richard asked.

"Because he's an idiot, a drunk and annoying." Kiara answered.

"I don't think being annoying is a reason to steal." Richard said.

"I know, I just felt like adding it in there." Kiara responded before she began walking to the checkout with Richard and Tera.

After a few minutes of waiting at the checkout, Richard, Tera and Kiara all looked for something to do. They also checked that Bruce hadn't been arrested, but much to Kiara's disappointment, it seemed that he had got away.

Meanwhile...

Louis followed Owen as he walked past the crowds and received directions from Rhea.

"Turn right, around the next corner." Rhea stated.

Owen did as she said and turned right.

"He's up ahead, can you see him?" Rhea asked.

Owen looked around him, but he couldn't see much past the large crowd all on their way to different shops. "I can't see past this crowd." Owen informed her.

"He's heading towards the toilets; can you see where they are?" Rhea inquired.

Owen looked around; he could see directions bolted to a wall showing that they were just ahead of his current position.

"I know where they are." Owen told her.

"Good, head towards them now." Rhea instructed.

Owen followed her instructions and walked past the crowd towards the toilets.

"He just walked into the toilets now, he's alone in there." Rhea added.

Owen and Louis were now by the entrance to the toilets. "He's in here and he's alone, don't forget he's armed." Owen told Louis.  
Louis stood and looked at the door for a second; he couldn't believe that the man who destroyed his life was behind that door.

The more he thought about how free Ryan was, the more he wanted him dead. "Stay here, watch the door. Make sure that nobody tries to get in. Whatever you hear, don't walk in. I don't care if you hear me screaming, do not open this door." Louis told him firmly.

"Do whatever you have to do." Owen said as Louis walked into the toilets.

Louis looked around the white and blue tiled L shaped corridor he walked down and around to get to Ryan. He looked around the room now, there were sinks with mirrors behind them to the left, white toilet stalls to the right and right down the end of the room were about 5 urinals, one of which Ryan was pissing into.

Louis felt rage take over, he finally had the man that caused all the pain in his life right in front of him, and there was nothing in the way to stop him from killing him.

He thought about when that same man killed his parent's right in front of his eyes, and shot his brother. He still didn't even know if his brother was still alive, Reaper saved him but his brother was still taken. As he thought more about, he felt pure hatred slowly take over him.

Ryan finished pissing and gave it a few shakes before zipping up and walking over to the farthest sink away from Louis. Ryan noticed the young man staring at him like a hawk. "You better look away right now while your jaw is still attached to your face." Ryan insulted as he washed his hands in the sink.

"You don't even fucking recognize me, do you?" Louis growled back at Ryan. He thought that he would have at least recognized the face of the person whose life he destroyed, even if that was 10 years ago.

Ryan then looked over to the young man man. "No I fucking don't, but I'm going to beat the shit out of you all the same." Ryan stated, he was just going to beat him up, but he reached behind himself for his gun when he noticed the young man sprinting towards him.

Ryan pulled out his pistol and shot off one round, but it hit nothing as Louis managed to point the gun that was aimed at his head, over his shoulder instead.

The loud gunshot partially deafened Louis because the muzzle was so close to his head. Louis grabbed Ryan by the neck and pushed him into the wall behind him. Instead of trying to get the young man's hand off his neck, Ryan used his other hand to punch Louis directly in the eye before he kicked him to his gut and sent him to one of the stall's doors.

Louis felt his back hit the stall door before he saw Ryan aiming his gun towards his head again. Louis quickly launched himself forward and used both hands to point the gun towards the floor as he heard another gunshot.

Louis quickly headbutted Ryan right to his nose before one of his hands let go of Ryan's hand and punched him to the side of his head.

Louis could feel something wet running down his leg, but didn't have time to think about what it was.

Ryan let out a grunt of pain and blood seeped out of his right nostril before he responded by slamming his fist several times rapidly into Louis' ribs as he tried to aim his gun at the young man.

Louis tried to punch at Ryan's head again, but when he tried, he only hit the wall behind Ryan's head as he partially ducked and used his shoulder to ram Louis back into the door of the stall which flew open.

Louis managed to stop himself from falling back by placing a hand behind him, onto the wall behind the toilet. Louis quickly then punched the right side of Ryan's head before Louis then used his own shoulder to ram into Ryan's gut.

Ryan fell back and Louis was on top of him. Louis slammed Ryan's hand off the hard white tiled floor. Louis also tried to punch Ryan to the face with the other hand, but he managed to catch it.

Louis couldn't do much with the other hand, but he continued to slam Ryan's hand that still held the gun off the floor until his hand begun to bleed and finally dropped the gun. Ryan raised his right leg enough to kick Louis directly to the chest and send him backwards.

Louis quickly scrambled to his feet again and just as Ryan managed stand up again, he was sent back down to the ground when Louis punched him to the side of his face and grabbed his head with both hands before knocking out one of his teeth when he smashed Ryan's face down on the hard marble sink counter.

Ryan's hands went to his mouth as he tasted his own blood that filled his mouth and felt an unbearable pain going through his teeth and gums.

Louis had the man where he wanted him, he was down on the ground and wasn't much of a threat now. Louis then looked over to Ryan's pistol that was on the floor.

Ryan saw his own gun sliding towards him, he quickly tried to pick it up but when he did, he felt some of the bones in his left hand get shattered when Louis brought down his foot with full force onto Ryan's hand and pinned it to his pistol.

When Louis lifted his foot off Ryan's hand he quickly pulled it away to his chest and his other hand soon wrapped around his wrist as he shouted out in pain.

Louis wanted to torture him, but the temptation to kill him was too great. Louis kicked Ryan in the face before he sat on top of him. Louis grabbed Ryan's head and slammed it back down onto the hard floor, over and over again. The more he did it, the more blood he began to see every time he lifted his head back up to smash it back down.

Louis stopped when he saw Ryan beginning to lose consciousness; he wanted Ryan to be awake once he killed him. Louis slowly pressed his thumbs into Ryan's eyes; they were harder to break through than he had initially thought.

Ryan frantically tried to punch out and scratch at Louis' face, but he couldn't do it, the pain overwhelmed him as he screamed out and blood pooled out of his eyes.

Louis shouted as he pushed his thumbs deeper into where Ryan's eyes once were. "JUST FUCKING DIE!" He shouted just as Ryan's arms fell.

Louis pulled his thumbs out of Ryan's eye sockets, knew he was dead already, but that didn't stop him from smashing the back of his skull against the floor again, and again, and again. Once he stopped smashing his head off the floor, he repeatedly brought his fist down onto Ryan's face.

After a while, he became totally exhausted, and he slowly crawled away from Ryan's body.

He stayed on the floor, breathing in deeply and staring at the bloody corpse on the floor. For the past 10 years, he made it his purpose in life to hunt that man that now lay dead on the floor.

He thought that if he killed him, he would feel fulfillment, but he didn't. He still felt empty inside, he still felt that hatred building up inside of him, that's when he realized that killing Ryan wasn't enough, and he wanted to wipe them all out. He wasn't going to stop killing slavers until either they were all dead, or he was.

He felt something in his mouth, which he perceived to be blood. "That. Is. What. You. Get. For. Fucking. With. Me." Louis spat, as the blood left his mouth and landed on Ryan's face. The body's face was then blurred by even more dark red liquid.

He wiped his mouth, and sat on the floor, next to the man he had just killed. He breathed in heavily as he slowly regained his senses.

* * *

**Author's note: Well again, sorry this took so long, i think warrior spent more time editing it than i did writing it ^^**

**Anyway, thank you all again for reading! And thanks Hironada and Warrior! Also thank you to Rukario for noticing a mathematical error in this chapter!**


	28. A drink best served frozen

Louis suddenly felt a stinging sensation on his left thigh; he looked down to see that one of the bullets Ryan had shot had torn through his jeans and grazed his thigh. Louis then looked at the blood on his hands; there was no way he would go unnoticed in a crowd looking like this.  
He unsteadily got up and looked at himself in the mirror behind the sink; parts of his face were red and already beginning to show signs of bruising. He turned on the tap and began washing all the blood off his hands, and also some of the blood spots that had gotten on his clothes.

When he washed all the blood off him, he then splashed his face with some cold water, before then thinking about how he should hide the wound on his left thigh. He took off his jacket and carried it with his left hand to try to hide the wound, he knew that it would look suspicious, but it would be better than just walking around and not bothering to hide it.

After he did this, he then unsteadily walked out of the room, leaving behind the dead man. Louis walked out to see Owen with a concerned look on his face. Louis looked around and noticed that nobody but them was in the mall.

Owen looked at the blank expression on Louis' face. "We have to get out of here, now. Everyone heard those gunshots and right now, and my contact is the only one keeping a horde of armed men away from this mall. Let's go!" Owen warned as he began to run back the way they had come.

Louis tried to keep up with him, but the graze wound on his thigh was making things harder. Whilst he was running, he also managed to put his jacket back on.

Owen looked behind him to see Louis trying to catch up, he could also see the wound on his leg. "You were hit?" Owen asked with a little concern.

"It's just a graze." Louis responded.

Owen let out a sigh. "Get back to the car! I'll be right behind you!" Owen yelled as he ran off

Louis slowly ran for the exit, he didn't want to be around once the police got here.

Owen quickly ran into a deserted pharmacy, he grabbed everything that could be useful, first aid kits, bandages, antiseptic and anything else that he thought he could use. He shoved them all into a plastic bag and ran off.

Richard, Tera and Kiara all stood beside their car. They, along with everyone else, had been ordered out of the mall by a man on a loud speaker because of a "terrorist attack". The car park was totally empty.

They all knew it wasn't a terrorist attack, Louis had gone there to kill someone and they wouldn't be surprised if somebody mistook it for one. Even though they knew it wasn't a terrorist attack, they were surprised that there was absolutely no sign of the police, or anyone else.

Kiara looked around her. "Has anyone noticed that Bruce and that Scyther are still missing?" She asked.

"Bruce isn't missing." Richard replied.

"What? Where is he then?" Kiara asked.

Richard pointed back to the car, towards the smashed out window. Kiara jumped up on the bonnet of the car and looked through its windscreen. "Ugh, pathetic." Kiara spat as she looked down to Bruce who was sprawled out on the car's floor with a number of empty vodka bottles around him.  
"Is he even alive?" Kiara questioned as she tried to get a closer look through the windscreen. It was him, drooling and murmuring speech in his passed out drunken stupor.

Tera looked through the smashed out window to look over to Bruce. "Well he's still breathing." Tera replied as she heard his breaths and gibberish.

"Shame." Kiara insulted as she jumped off the bonnet of the car.

Richard opened up the back door to the car and soon realized something else. "Err; Bruce only had one backpack, right?" Richard asked.

"Yes, why?" Kiara asked as she walked over to the open door and saw three bags full of alcohol next to Bruce. "Seriously? How the hell could he even carry all that!" Kiara confusedly asked.

"I don't know, but he found a way." Richard replied as he carefully got into the back of the car and sat in his usual seat. Tera sat in her usual seat, right next to Richard and Kiara.  
They all moved his alcohol bottles away from them and stared at Bruce, still passed out on the floor.

As Kiara got into her seat, she noticed Bruce make a little snorting sound, like as if he was waking up. "Hey, we could drag him out of the car before he wakes up and leave him behind." Kiara suggested with a little grin on her face.

"I don't think Owen would be very happy about that... Or Bruce." Richard added.

"Well Owen did make you the team leader, so you could get to kick a certain drunken, worthless human off the team, right?" Kiara asked.

Bruce woke up about half way through her conversation, but remained on the car floor with his eyes closed. "And you could also get rid of a certain blue ice rat, couldn't you?" Bruce retorted.

Kiara looked down to Bruce who now tried to sit upright, but fell back down to the car floor. "You're so drunk you can't even sit upright!" Kiara told him.

"Can too! That was just a practice sitty up righty thing." Bruce stated as he pulled himself up and sat down on his regular seat. "See, not only did I sit upright but I sat down on my chair!" Bruce exclaimed proudly.

"Oh great, now are you going to go on a quest for fire?" Kiara asked with sarcasm in her voice.

"Depends, is fire hot enough to melt you down? I could use some ice cubes with my drinks." Bruce retorted with a smile.

"Is drinking all you think about?" Kiara asked putting a disgusted face on.

"Yep, pretty much." He said as he looked around in his backpack to find his next drink.

"You just passed out and you're going to have another drink!" Kiara shouted.

"Hell yeah!" Bruce yelled with a smile as he opened up a can of beer.

"How do you expect to carry all these bags with you anyway?" Kiara questioned as she gave a confused look.

"I haven't thought that far ahead yet but, I'll think of something... Probably. Maybe not." Bruce replied as he downed the can of beer.

Everybody's attention then turned to Reaper who climbed into the car and silently sat down in the same seat he sat in last time.

Richard had expected him to be with Louis or Owen. "Where were you?" Richard asked him.

"Away from the mall, I only go in crowded places when I need to be there. Louis didn't need me." Reaper told them.

Just as Reaper finished his sentence, Louis climbed into the car and sat next to him. Louis didn't say anything to anyone; he just tried to hide the wound on his thigh with his hands. Reaper not only noticed bruising on Louis' face, but also the wound he was trying to hide.

Richard was about to ask about where Owen was, but Owen climbed opened the driver's side door and climbed in shortly after Louis arrived. Owen wasted no time; he closed the door behind him and set down the bag of medical supplies in the empty seat next to him before switching on the engine. The car roared to life and Owen drove off, far away from the mall. 

1 hour later...

Owen was still driving; he was driving towards the mountains not far from there. When Owen told Richard and Tera that they were leaving Kanto, they couldn't stop smiling, they were overjoyed.  
Owen was glad he was leaving Kanto too; it meant that he didn't have to worry about his team leader hating him for keeping both him and his partner in a region where their relationship is illegal. They were going to be heading to Johto next, but he hadn't told anyone else this, and they were going to have to drive a long way to get there.

Bruce looked out of the smashed out window tiredly, after running from security and passing out more than once in a day, he felt a lot more tired than usual, and bored. "Where are we going?" Bruce asked out of boredom.

"Johto." Owen answered.

Bruce's head perked up as soon as he heard him say Johto. "Johto? Why the fuck are we going there?" Bruce cussed.

"Our next recruit is there, when we've picked him up then there will only be one more person left to recruit." Owen added.

"And then I'm guessing we're going to get shot at... Again." Bruce pessimistically predicted.

Kiara looked at him and laughed, "Hey, if we're lucky then maybe they'll actually hit you this time!"

Bruce gave her a pissed off look., the temptation to just pick her up and throw her out of the window was overwhelming for Bruce. "I'm not sure what's worse, dodging bullets shot by slaving dickheads or listening to you bitch all day." Bruce angrily retorted.

"Oh, hit a nerve did I?" Kiara sarcastically asked.

"Don't make me throw you out of this car." Bruce angrily shot back.

Kiara could see the anger inside him building up, and she enjoyed it. "Try throwing me out of the car and I'll freeze you to death like that Rhyhorn I saved you from... You still haven't thanked me for that by the way." Kiara reminded.

Bruce let out a sigh. "You're not going to forget about that are you?" Bruce asked.

"Nope. Not until you thank me at least." Kiara happily stated.

Reaper sat silently next to Louis, he noticed that he hadn't said a word since he came out of that mall. He could see something had changed inside him, and he wasn't sure if he liked it. "Are you okay Louis? What happened in that mall?" Reaper asked.

Louis looked back to Reaper and said, "I'll tell you later... Just not now."

Reaper could clearly see that Louis didn't want to talk about it, not in front of everyone else anyway. What he was concerned most of all, was the look of pain on his face.

Richard looked over to Tera; he was glad that they were finally leaving Kanto so they wouldn't have to worry about their relationship getting them arrested. They both felt like a weight had been lifted of their shoulders.

9 hours later...

It had gotten dark and right now they were driving through a mountainous woodland area. Owen stopped the car; he figured that this place would be pretty safe to camp at seeing as they were driving on an old disused road the military used to move equipment around. "We'll camp here for the night, then we'll move on to Johto tomorrow." Owen told everyone as he switched the engine off.

Bruce watched everybody climb out of the car as he put on one backpack and dragged the other two backpacks out of the car. He would have left the backpacks in the car, but he saw Kiara staring at them with a devious grin that Bruce didn't trust.

Richard and Tera wasted no time in getting out their camping equipment. Richard put up the tent while Tera handed him the pieces. Louis and Scyther did the same, except silently.

Bruce had dragged out his backpacks to the spot on which he planned to try and set up his tent. He left his backpacks behind to pick up his camping equipment from the car, although he constantly looked behind him to see if anyone went near his backpacks.  
Bruce carried his camping equipment from the car to his spot and threw it all down to the ground next to his backpacks. Bruce took one look at the camping equipment. "Fuck it, I'm not going to put that shit together." He said to himself before he began searching for more booze in his backpacks.

Owen decided to climb out of the car, he was still planning on sleeping in there for the night but he just felt like he had to get some fresh air after driving for hours in that car.

Reaper watched Louis finish setting up the tent, he could see that Louis had something on his mind, and he wanted to find out what. "Louis, what happened in that mall?" Reaper asked.

Louis looked back over to Reaper and let out a sigh. "I killed Ryan." Louis replied as he stepped away from the tent.

"Shouldn't you be happy?" Reaper asked with a confused look on his face.

"No, I've changed nothing. That sick fuck still killed my parents and took my brother, nothing will ever change that." Louis stated as he looked Reaper directly in the eyes.

"You got your revenge, isn't that what you wanted?" Reaper questioned.

"It was, but now I know that revenge was only part of the reason I hunted down those slavers." Louis told him.

"Then what's the rest of the reason?" Reaper asked, still maintaining that confused expression on his green mantis like face.

Louis had a very serious look on his face, one that Reaper was used to by now. "To stop them from hurting anyone else. There are more slavers than those that attacked my home, and I won't stop hunting down and killing every slaver I can." Louis cursed in a furious tone.

Reaper hated to see him like this, consumed by hate. "Listen lad! Do you know how lucky you are to be alive? Are you just going to throw away your life to hunt slavers!" Reaper shouted at him.

"I'm not throwing away my life! If someone like me had killed Ryan before he destroyed my life, then my family might have still been with me... I won't stop hunting them all down, they all deserve to die." He said as he stared at Reaper, awaiting a response.

"Maybe, but... Listen to yourself! If you keep driving yourself like this then you're going to get yourself killed!" Reaper exclaimed at him.

"I don't care!" Louis yelled before storming off into the forest, away from the others.

"I do!" Reaper shouted just loud enough for him to hear. Louis stopped in his tracks when he heard Reaper say that, when he realized that he had actually stopped, he quickly went back to walking deeper into the forest. He felt like he needed to be alone.

30 minutes later...

Richard, Tera and Kiara all sat on a log near the campfire Bruce had started. Bruce sat on another log next to Reaper and Owen. Bruce and Reaper found and cut up the logs and branches used in the fire, they didn't know what to think of each other, but they both respected each other enough to stay friendly.

Richard and Tera both cuddled each other as they got warmer by the fire. Kiara was sitting further away from the fire, she really didn't like fire. But it wasn't all so bad for her, because right now, she was tucking into her big block of cheddar cheese. Richard and Tera both looked back to see Kiara with a big bright smile on her face as she stuffed her face with cheese, they both burst out laughing.

"What?" Kiara's muffled voice asked out of confusion. Richard and Tera just kept on laughing at the ridiculous sight of the Glaceon eating a big hunk of cheddar cheese with a big smile on her face.

Tera had no idea how Kiara was going to eat that big hunk of cheddar cheese by herself.  
"Are you sure you can eat all that by yourself?" Tera asked with a little giggle as she watched Kiara stuff her face full of cheese and quickly trying to swallow it to answer Tera's question.

"Of course I can!" She answered quickly before stuffing her face with more of the delicious cheese.  
Bruce looked over to Kiara, he was bored and drunk, so he did what came naturally, insulted her. "Hey, ice queen, are you sure it's okay for you to be sitting this close to the fire?" He asked.

Kiara swallowed the cheddar she had in her mouth to quickly say something back. "I was about to ask you the same question. Don't sit your drunken ass so close to the flames, if you catch fire then there's no way we can escape the blast caused by your alcohol stained clothes and the methane that comes from the bullshit you spew from your mouth!" Kiara insulted with a smug look on her face.

Bruce was a little surprised; he didn't expect her to come up with something like that. "Right now, I think the chances of me throwing you into the fire are a little higher." Bruce added before he brought up his beer to his mouth.

Kiara saw this, now was the time to truly piss him off.

Bruce closed his eyes as he knocked his head back to drink his beer, but much to his surprise, no beer came out and he felt his hand freezing and the bottle freezing to his lips. 'What the fuck!' Bruce thought to himself as he opened up his eyes to see the beer bottle frozen to his lips and hand.

Kiara laughed at the surprised expression on Bruce's face, but she quickly stopped laughing when Bruce gave her a murderous glare. Bruce quickly dived forward to grab her, but she ran off as he crashed to the ground. It was a good thing that he had that bottle frozen to his mouth because he was trying to shout out profanities that would make a black viper crap himself.

Bruce pushed himself off the floor and watched as Kiara ran off into the forest. 'Yeah, you run bitch, but I'll get you back, I fucking swear it!' Bruce angrily thought to himself as he looked over to the campfire. 'Going to melt this fucker off.' Bruce thought to himself before he moved really close to the fire and tried to melt the bottle off his hand and mouth.

Owen looked on with slight shock as Bruce's face got dangerously close to the fire. "Err, I don't think that's a good idea." Owen told him.

Bruce said something back but again, it was muffled by the bottle in his mouth, although he meant to say, "Fuck off."

Bruce could see the thin coating of ice slowly melting off the longer he stayed stood right near the fire.

Reaper, Owen, Richard and Tera all watched awkwardly as Bruce finally managed to pry out the bottle from his mouth and yell out, "Fucking finally! Now, where are ya! You little frozen bitch!"

Bruce looked all around him, but found no sign of the blue rat. "Yeah, fucking hide!" Bruce yelled at the forest before sitting back down on the log. Bruce opened up his backpack next to him, that's when he noticed that it too was covered in a thin layer of ice. "Oh, she fucking didn't!" Bruce thought out loud as he looked into his backpack and saw that all the drinks inside it had been frozen.  
"Fucking hell! She really couldn't have pissed me off more, that little frozen blue fucking bitchy rat!" Bruce shouted before he took out a frozen bottle of vodka and smashed the glass against a rock nearby the log.

Bruce was determined to get drunk, so he began licking at the now frozen vodka as he held it by its still unbroken and still very cold bottle neck. "Not that bad." Bruce stated before continuing to lick at it like a popsicle.

Richard looked back into the forest and let out a sigh. "I'm going to look for Kiara; do you want to come with me?" Richard asked Tera.

"Of course." Tera replied as she stood up with Richard and walked away from the camp fire and into the forest.

Richard and Tera called out for Kiara as they went deeper into the forest, but they eventually found her.

"Heh, did you see Bruce's face when I froze that bottle to his mouth?" Kiara asked as she giggled to herself.

"Yeah." Richard responded. "He looked like he wanted to kill you, are you sure it was a good idea to piss him off like that?" Richard added.

"Probably not, but it was really funny wasn't it?" Kiara questioned as she began laughing to herself again.

"You know that you're going to have to ride in the same car as him right?" Richard asked.

"I know, but even if he does try to kill me, it was definitely worth it." Kiara replied with a grin.

"You really don't like him do you?" Richard asked.

"There is nothing to like about that drunken ass, he's annoying, vulgar, insulting and loud." Kiara quickly stated. "If he didn't open his stupid mouth then I wouldn't have frozen it to that damn bottle, although that will probably put an end to his drunken nonsense for a while." Kiara added with a smile.

"Err, not necessarily." Richard began.

Kiara gave a confused look before saying, "What do you mean?"

Richard let out a sigh before answering. "I mean that Bruce is so determined to get drunk that he actually began licking at his frozen vodka." Richard told her.

"Ugh, will anything stop that man from getting drunk?" Kiara asked in a tired tone.

"I don't think so." Richard said to her.

Meanwhile...

Louis walked his way back to camp, he had enough time to think about things and calm down a little. He shouted at Reaper, and he regretted it, especially after hearing the last thing Reaper had to say to him.  
Louis knew Reaper cared about him; he wouldn't have protected him and stayed by his side all these years if he didn't. He could now understand why Reaper wouldn't want him to keep on hunting down slavers for the rest of his life; Reaper didn't want to lose him.  
The more he thought about it, the more doubts filled his head about trying to hunt down and kill as many slavers as he can before he dies. Louis than thought about losing Reaper, and how lost he would be without him. He realized that if Reaper followed him to kill all these slavers, then there was a chance that Louis might lose him.

Reaper quickly noticed Louis coming out of the forest and walking over to their tent, he quickly headed over to him. "Louis!" Reaper called out.

Louis looked over to Reaper, he decided to apologize now and get it out of the way. "I'm sorry I shouted at you. It's just that I was a little pissed about... Well, nearly everything." Louis told him.

"I understand kid, you've been through a lot but right now you need to keep a cool head." Reaper replied him.

Louis noticed something, in their conversations, Reaper always talked to him like he was a kid. That fuelled the question he was about to ask him. "How old are you?" Louis asked.

Reaper let out a sigh; he was hoping that he wouldn't get asked that question. "I don't know, we Scyther's don't really place that much importance on age, but if I had to guess. Maybe somewhere between forty and fifty." Reaper said.

"Between forty and fifty? You're very agile for a middle aged Pokémon." Louis said with a smile.

"Well I never planned on being one of those lazy Scyther's that sit around all day and look smart and wise in their old age. I always hated the thought of being useless, the day they accepted that they were old was the day they would start dying, and I don't plan on dying any time soon." Reaper informed him.

"Glad to hear it, I don't think I could do this without you." Louis admitted.

"Hah, kid, don't get all soft on me now." Reaper added with a little chuckle.

"Don't worry, I plan on keeping my soft side to myself... Starting from now." Louis added with a smile.

"Good, now I think you should fix up your thigh with the stuff Owen left with us." Reaper stated as he pointed to the graze wound on Louis' thigh.

"Ugh, fine." Louis replied as he began searching in their tent for the medical supplies Owen gave to Louis and Reaper.

Bruce was still sitting on the log with Owen whilst licking his frozen vodka, still very determined to get drunk. Bruce then suddenly turned to Owen and said, "How many missions have you been on?" Before he went back to licking the frozen vodka.

"Too many." Owen replied.

"How much is too many?" Bruce responded.

"Over two hundred, why do you ask?" Owen inquired.

"Just wanted to know if you have been on a mission with an annoying, bitchy, cold Pokémon before." Bruce said.

"I've been on missions with Pokémon teammates but they were usually friendly." Owen told him.

"And the ones who weren't friendly?" Bruce asked.

"The ones who weren't friendly just said nothing and kept to themselves, not a good thing if the mission depends on teamwork." Owen answered.

"Eh, anything interesting happen during your missions?" Bruce inquired.

"You mean besides defusing bombs, running away from men with guns and avoiding the powerful Pokémon that try to hunt us down?" Owen asked.

"You know what I mean, anything stand out? Ever get laid on the job?" Bruce asked with a smile.

"Err; I don't even know what to say to that." Owen replied to Bruce's statement as he blushed lightly.

Bruce looked at the expression on Owen's face and burst out laughing. "You did, didn't you?" Bruce asked as soon as he stopped himself from laughing.

Owen wanted to shoot himself for blushing, all that training it took for him to be the best agent and hide his motives and feelings from enemy agents, and yet a single drunk man can see the answer through the look on his face. "That's irrelevant, anyway, have you?" Owen asked to avoid Bruce's question.

"That's irrelevant... But yeah, I did. Best fucking day at work ever!" Bruce told him as he put a big smile on his face.

Owen simply laughed in response, he thought that Bruce was just a drunken ass, that might still be true, but he was a funny drunken ass.

Midnight...

Reaper and Louis were still talking to each other; they hadn't stopped talking to each other since Louis had apologized for shouting at Reaper.

Bruce was now asleep by the fire, with his three backpacks full of frozen alcohol; he was hoping they would melt by the time he woke up.

Kiara was still awake and still in the forest, she felt like she should stay away from Bruce until he calmed down, or at least until his drinks melted. She happily ate the rest of her cheddar cheese which Richard and Tera brought back from camp for her.

Owen was in the car again, slowly drifting off to sleep in the driver's seat, until he heard Rhea's voice through the earpiece again.

"Owen, are you there?" She asked.

Suddenly hearing her voice made him jump a little. "Err, yeah. I was just about to get some sleep." Owen said in a tired tone.

"Oh, sorry if I woke you." Rhea apologized.

"It's fine, thanks again for stopping the police from charging into the mall." Owen stated, with a little sense of happiness in his voice.

"You owe me big for that by the way." Rhea said playfully.

"Yeah, put it on my tab." Owen replied with a little chuckle.

"I won't keep you up any longer, goodnight." Rhea concluded as her voice crackled out.

Owen let out a sigh and closed his eyes once more to try and get to sleep.

Meanwhile...

Richard and Tera were in their tent, Richard was fast asleep, but Tera was still awake. She cuddled up to her sleeping soul mate for both warmth and protection. Tera was scared; for both of them.  
She couldn't stop thinking about what might happen to Richard, she was scared that he might put himself in danger to protect her, and she would never forgive herself if he died for her. The thought of it was enough to bring tears to her eyes; she began lightly sobbing.

Richard slowly awoke to the sound of her softly sobbing. "Tera; are you okay?" Richard softly asked as he looked into her tear filled eyes.

"I-I'm fine." Tera told him as she looked down to the ground.

"Tera, you can tell me anything, what's wrong?" Richard asked as he softly stroked her back.

"Richard... Please, promise me you'll stay safe." Tera said as she looked deeply into his eyes.

As Richard looked back into her eyes, it really did seem like they just begged him to say, 'I promise' but this was one promise that he knew was going to be hard to keep.  
"You don't have to worry about me, remember, I already promised I'd keep both of us safe. I intend to keep that promise." Richard finished saying before kissing her on the top of her head.

Tera felt calmer in hearing Richard say he was going to keep them safe, but she still worried a lot about him.

Richard could see the concerned look on her face; he had seen that look before. "You worry for me a lot, don't you?" Richard asked.

Tera looked at Richard; she knew that he knew her more than anyone else ever did. "Yes, I do." Tera answered.

"I know how you feel; I worry a lot for you too." Richard admitted. "I promise I'll stay safe, for you." Richard added as he kissed her on her snout.

Tera hugged Richard and whispered, "I love you."

Richard always smiled when he heard those words. "I love you too." Richard said back before giving her a kiss on her neck. "We should get some sleep; we don't know what's ahead of us tomorrow." Richard said.

Tera stroked the side of Richard's face before closing her eyes and saying, "Goodnight."

Richard kissed her on top of her head and whispered, "Sweet dreams." They both fell asleep, smiling and each other's arms.

* * *

**Author's note: Sorry this took so long guys, Infinity was slow on editing and I was... busy getting drunk. Anyway, enough with the excuses! As always, I'd like to thank Infinity Warrior and Hironada for editing this! And again, thank you to the awesome readers! If I could I would buy you all a drink!**


	29. The black and blue rose

The next morning...

"Fuck yeah!" Bruce shouted randomly just after waking up and taking a look into his backpack to find that his drinks had now thawed out. He grinned as he took out a very cold bottle of vodka and opened it; he looked around for Kiara before raising it to his lips and gulping it down.

"Ah, fucking amazing. Maybe I should get her to freeze my drinks more often." Bruce uttered to himself before looking over to his still unused and disassembled camping stuff. "Next time, I just wont fucking bother." Bruce mumbled as he stood up and walked over to his camping stuff to pick it up and stuff into the back of the car.

Tera's eyes slowly fluttered open as she awoke to the sound of the others talking to each other outside of their tent. She could feel Richard's arms around her, one draped just above her waist and the other just behind her head. Tera didn't want to go anywhere, she silently stroked his arm that was just above her waist and enjoyed the warmth that she felt radiating from his body.

Richard silently awoke; he could feel Tera stroking his arm. He kissed the top of her head and said, "Good morning beautiful."

Tera looked behind her to see his bright face; she smiled before they pulled each other into a loving kiss. One paw went straight to the back of Richard's head as her other went to his back.

Richard's hands did the same as they closed their eyes, and their tongues touched. They held each other closely as they passionately kissed and touched each other, but this moment was short lived.

Kiara ran near the tent yelling, "Hey you two! We're going to leave soon, so get up!"

Richard let out a little sigh. "We'll be right out!" Richard shouted back out to her.

Tera could see the disappointed look on his face; he was feeling what she was feeling. Tera placed a paw on the side of Richard's face and almost instantly, that disappointed look disappeared with a happy smile.

"Come on, the others are probably waiting for us." Tera stated as she lightly stroked the side of his face. Richard nodded and gave her a quick kiss before he happily left the tent with Tera. It was funny how the smallest actions could make a big change.

Reaper and Louis had finished packing up their camping gear and now sat on the log by the now burnt out campfire. Louis was asking questions about Reaper's life before he met him. "What were the other Scythers like?" Louis asked curiously.

"Calm and quiet, we didn't talk to each other much unless it was about leadership." Reaper replied.

"Why did you leave the other Scythers?" Louis asked.

"There was no reason for me to stay, I was just another Scyther in the crowd, and nobody really thought of me as anything more than a fighter. I left them in search for a new place to stay, you know; somewhere I could stand out a little more. That's about the same time I found you." Reaper told him.

Louis thought back to when he first met Reaper, he was about to be loaded into the back of a van by two armed slavers at the age of just 11. Reaper tore off one slaver's head and impaled the other.

Louis was scared of both the blood splattered Scyther and the sounds of the people he knew being dragged out of their homes and shot or being loaded into the same kind of vans he sat in as he looked at the Scyther.

Louis had nowhere to go, and the Scyther showed no interest in harming him, so he followed Reaper out of the city.

Louis snapped out of his thoughts and looked over to the large armored and battered car that the others were now climbing into. "Looks like we should get going." Louis said as he stood up and began walking towards the car with Reaper.

Kiara was the last to get into the car; she sat in her usual seat, opposite Bruce who was now giving her a look of hatred. "You're still angry about the drink thing, aren't you?" Kiara asked.

"Well it was only last night in case you fucking forgot!" Bruce angrily yelled back to her.

"Weren't you the one who said I should make myself useful and chill your drinks?" Kiara questioned with a little smirk.

"CHILL! Not fucking freeze! And not while it's in my fucking mouth!" Bruce shouted at her.

"I know, I just thought it would shut you up for once." Kiara stated to him.

"You better watch your fucking back." Bruce mumbled as he continued to glare at her.

Kiara just smiled as she stared back at him, she really pissed him off, and she really enjoyed it.

Bruce thought about ways in his head to piss her off just as much as she pissed him off. He thought of everything from just tripping her up to throwing her in a fire.

Owen was still driving through a long road up in the mountains, he knew that it would be a long drive to Kanto, although he wasn't sure just how long. "Richard, you should probably take a look at 'The Medic's dossier." Owen started as he continued driving.

"Alright." Richard said as Tera passed the dossier to him. He opened up the dossier and looked through it. The first thing he noticed was the picture of a man with blond hair that was parted in the middle, light brown eyes and his arm wrapped around the shoulders of a Gallade to his left and a human woman to his right.

The woman appeared to be somewhere in her late fifties, as the Gallade appeared to be aged as well. Richard noticed something about the man's eyes, they weren't just light brown, and they had what looked like a red tint to them.

'The Medic'

Recruit number: #0767

Name: Kovick Elout

Age: 29

Background info: He is an excellent doctor that was also trained in the same program as Agent 177, he passed with flying colors but he never went onto his first mission, he instead worked for a brief time as a surgeon before enlisting and becoming a medic in Johto's armed forces despite being born in Unova.

His reason for never moving onto his first mission as an agent was, 'I wanted to help people, not blow them apart... Even if it is really fun.'

He lost his first patient two years ago, he threatened to quit over the lack of necessary supplies to keep the patient alive, although the problem was never solved, and he still continued his work as a medic. He may work as a medic, but he has proven to be a solid fighter.

Side notes: His father is a Gallade named Jack; his mother (Human, female) is called Kim. No other living relatives. He works closely with his Ninetails assistant (Aneko), it is suspected that he may have romantic feelings for her.

Height: 5 ft 12 inches

Place of birth: Unova

Richard stopped reading at that point although he did take a look at the other pages but they were all just areas Kovick had visited and places and times he had worked.

Richard put down the dossier and lay back in his seat, Tera once again rested her head on his shoulder as he stroked her soft fur Richard couldn't wait until they got to Johto where they could show their love for each other just like they did back in Hoenn.

Richard was proud of his relationship with Tera, he didn't care what anyone else thought and he just wanted to do stuff that normal couples would do. He knew that this mission was hard on her, and he wanted to take her mind off all the bad things that could happen.

He wasn't sure just how he was going to do that, but that's what he was going to do.

Bruce wanted to stay angry at Kiara, by now he would have thrown her out of the car, but he just had too much to think about. He was going back to Johto, he moved from there for a reason.

Kiara noticed that Bruce was much quieter than usual; she also noticed that he gave her less threatening looks. She didn't know why, especially not after the incident with the frozen drinks.

Owen knew where he was driving to, Blackthorn City. 'The Medic' wasn't going to be in that city, but it was the closest city to them right now.

Louis turned to Reaper and asked, "Can you actually fly with those wings? I don't think I've ever seen you even attempt to fly."

Reaper let out a sigh before answering. "Others can, I can't. I can't move my upper left wing so I can never get enough power to fly, and when I try I usually end up stumbling over to my left." Reaper told him.

Louis gave him a confused look. "Why can't you move your wing? Was it because of an injury?" Louis asked.

"No, it's just how I was born, but I don't care. I can still fight and that's all that really matters, well, that's what I told myself anyway." Reaper stated.

"Did the other Scythers treat you differently because of that?" Louis asked as he was drawn in deeper by Reaper's personal history.

"Yes, when I was younger. I got into a fight with another Scyther; he suggested that we should attack other innocent Pokemon for food, even though there was more than enough fruit for all of us." Reaper said to him.

"What happened?" Louis asked.

"Well, he was the leader at the time and he asked if anyone objected, and I objected. He then called for a duel, a polite word for saying I want to kill you. I accepted and I fought him, and killed him." Reaper finished.

"Why didn't the others object? Wouldn't it have been easier just to convince the others that it wasn't worth it?" Louis asked.

"No, they were all too scared of him, he was the strongest fighter among us, or so they all thought. They didn't care about others; they only cared about themselves and their survival. They weren't about to take the side of a Scyther that couldn't even fly." Reaper reminisced, as his mind wandered back when all of the Scythers were quietly watching as the other Scyther and himself got ready to kill each other.

"How did you kill him?" Louis inquired.

"I stabbed him through his abdomen and tore his head off." Reaper flatly threw out.

"What happened after you killed him?" Louis probed.

Reaper gave a strange look, one that looked like he was smiling, he was glad that Louis was so interested and in a way, he was reminded of the times he used to listen to the older Scythers stories.

"I almost became leader, but I didn't. I gave that responsibility to someone I knew would be a good leader but was not a good fighter. When I told them who would be leading, nobody objected, then again, after killing the strongest Scyther around, I guess they wouldn't." Reaper said.

Louis felt like saying 'What happened after that?' But he guessed that he had asked him enough questions for now.

3 hours later...

"What the fuck is taking this hunk of shit so long to get to Johto!" Bruce shouted out.

Kiara was the one to answer his question.

"We're driving on an old abandoned rocky dirt road, high up in the mountains, driving in a car that weighs more than a Snorlax at a buffet and on top of that there's the all the equipment in the back and lets not forget that there is six people and one drunken ass in the car." Kiara spat.

"Keep talking like that and that there will be five people in the car and one happy drunk right after I throw your frozen ass right out of this fucking car!" Bruce angrily retorted before he brought up a bottle of vodka to his mouth while keeping a very close eye on Kiara.

Kiara didn't doubt that he really would try to throw her out of the car, but that didn't stop her from trying to annoying him. "You keep talking like that and there will be six people in this car and one dead frozen drunken ass." Kiara shot back.

Bruce smiled, every time she threatened him, he just felt like laughing. "I just can't take your insults seriously; it's like being threatened by a blue rabbit." Bruce thought out loud.

"What do you mean by that?" Kiara said with a vague look of confusion on her face.

"And you call me dumb. I mean you don't exactly look like the most threatening thing around here do you? You look like you would kill someone with your sickening..." Bruce trailed off, he was about to say, 'cuteness' but he didn't want her to think that he liked her.

"Sickening what?" Kiara asked as she eagerly awaited a reply.

"...Sickening appearance, seriously, you look like you're about to hug someone to death." Bruce replied before he took another mouthful of vodka. He figured that if he fucked up in his conversation with her, he could always blame it on the alcohol.

"Appearances can be deceiving; you'll find that out for yourself soon enough though." Kiara replied in a menacing tone.

Bruce didn't bother to ask her what she meant by that because he didn't really care. He just drank the rest of the vodka and hoped that they would be in and out of Johto quickly, before he did something stupid.

Kiara sat quietly and continued to stare at Bruce like a hawk watching its pray, but much to her surprise, he didn't even glance over back to her. She didn't even notice him mumble any swear words to himself.

4 hours later...

"How much longer will we have to drive and how much damn gas does this car have!" Bruce shouted out randomly.

"Not much longer now, and as for gas, we have one more can of it in the back somewhere so we don't need to worry much about gas right now." Owen answered.

Bruce just sighed as he continued drinking and watching the same sight out of the smashed out window. 'Nothing but rocks, trees and nature... Somebody should build a strip club here.' Bruce thought to himself.

Richard was just looking out of the window like he had been doing the whole ride here, but now he saw something else other than just mountains and trees, he could see buildings, it looked like a city in the mountains. Richard knew there was only one city like that in Johto. "Blackthorn City, is this where the next recruit is?" Richard asked.

"No, but we should stop here to gas up and buy any supplies we need." Owen answered.

Richard had travelled across Johto for sometime before working as a mercenary, he remembered spending some time in Blackthorn. He wondered if it was still the same quiet boring place it was when he left.

Tera knew that Richard had been to many places in Johto before he became a mercenary, she wondered if he could tell her more about where he traveled. "Where was the orphanage you grew up in Richard?" Tera curiously asked.

"Huh, you mean what city?" Richard responded. Tera nodded in response and Richard answered, "Goldenrod City, don't get too excited about the name, there's nothing golden about it."

Tera remembered all the stories that he had told her about his childhood, it still pained her to think that such a kind and loving person was forced into fights and gang wars. "Wasn't there anything good about that city?" Tera asked.

"I can't think of anything good about it. If there was something good in that city, I didn't see it and neither did any of the others, that is why they were willing to risk death by joining up with mercenary groups." Richard replied as he remembered a line of both young men and women signing their lives away on a 2 year contract that made them the mercenary company's soldiers until their contract expired, or they until they die.

"I'm just glad I'm out of there now." Richard finished before letting out a sigh. Although he knew Tera had a better childhood than he did, he didn't envy it, not one bit.

He felt like falling apart when Carter died, and that was his best friend, he couldn't imagine what pain Tera felt when all her friends and family got killed in just one night. That was the reason why he never really asked that many questions about her clan, he didn't want to remind her of the people she lost.

Tera saw a sign through the window, it was big and it had 'Welcome to Blackthorn City' written on it. "Blackthorn City, have you ever been there Richard?" Tera questioned.

Richard gave a smile and said, "Yes, I stopped here for a while back when I was traveling. I even took up a job at a shop there."

"What's it like there?" Tera asked.

"When I was there, it was nice, quiet and windy. I'm sure you would like it there." Richard told her.

Owen drove the car up a dirt road towards the city and eventually made it to its streets, although the streets weren't much different from the dirt road he had driven up to get here, the only difference seemed to be that there was less rocks.

The houses and shops looked fairly modern, although for a city it didn't seem that heavily populated. Although they were high up in the mountains, there seemed to be river flowing nearby too.

Owen eventually saw a nearby gas station and drove up to its gas pumps before switching off the engine. "Right, I'm going to get some gas, try not to get into trouble while I'm gone." Owen said as he looked over to Bruce and Kiara before getting out of the car and closing the door behind himself.

Richard waited until he saw Owen enter the shop before he got up and opened the car door. Tera looked over to him and said, "Richard, where are you going?"

Richard looked back to her and the others still sitting in the car. "I'll be right back." Was all Richard told her as he got out of the car, closed the door behind him and ran over to the river that he saw when they drove into the city. He hoped that he could find what he was looking for.

Kiara looked over to Bruce and said, "Wow, I'm impressed."

Bruce gave a look that said 'piss off.' "What?" Bruce mumbled, he knew that he wasn't going to like whatever she had to say.

"It's been about ten minutes since your last drink, yet you're not searching around in your backpacks full of alcohol to suckle on your next bottle like the baby you are." Kiara stated with a smirk.

Bruce finally snapped. "Right, that's fucking it!" Bruce said as he lunged forward for Kiara who quickly jumped out of the smashed out window and ran over to the river. "You fucking run you twat! Run!" Bruce shouted out of the smashed out window before throwing his fist into the car door in anger.

"Fucking bitch!" He shouted out again as he sat back in his seat while Louis, Reaper and Tera looked down to his hand which bled lightly around his knuckles.

Richard was down by the side of the river, and he found what he was looking for, a flower. It looked like a rose except its petals were blue and its color changed to black in the center.

He remembered seeing it back when he stayed in this city for a brief time, when his shift at the shop was finished; he decided to rest by the river because at the time, he didn't even have a hotel room. He stumbled upon these flowers and wondered if they were rare or worth something.

Richard had no idea why he remembered it so well, but he always thought that if he ever came back here with Tera, he would give one of these flowers to her. He wondered why this particular flower stuck in his mind, maybe it was the similarities between the flower and Tera, blue and black, grew in the mountains, and from what he heard about the flower from the locals, not very fond of the cold.

Richard carefully plucked it from the ground and stood up, right before he saw a familiar face.

Richard saw Kiara sprinting over his way as she shouted, "Hey, Richard!"

"What's wrong, why aren't you in the car?" Richard asked as he immediately thought the worst.

"Err; well Bruce is kind of annoyed at me right now." Kiara told him.

Richard let out a sigh and asked, "What did you do to piss him off this time?"

"Well I might have said something about him sucking on his bottle like a baby." Kiara stated with a smirk.

"Oh, I can't possibly imagine that going down badly." Richard said sarcastically. "I'm guessing he didn't take that well." Richard added.

"He didn't, he jumped at me and I ran out of the car. I also heard him shouting something at me but I was to busy laughing at the idiot to hear what he was saying." Kiara finished with a giggle.

"Why do you want to annoy him so much?" Richard inquired.

Kiara stopped to think about her answer for a few seconds before she replied, "There was a reason, but I forgot. Maybe it's just because its fun to see that stupid drunken human so annoyed."

"You should stop pissing him off like that; I think we can all imagine you both ripping each other apart." Richard told her.

"Can you also imagine me freezing the stupid man solid while I toss all of his drinks off a cliff? I can." Kiara daydreamed with a big smile.

"I know you don't like him, but would it be so hard to just try to not piss him off?" Richard asked.

"Fine, I'll try to be nice to him." Kiara said before she sighed and frowned.

Richard smiled as he looked at the frowning Glaceon. "Hey, I'm not asking you to kiss and make up, just try to avoid killing each other." Richard added with a chuckle.

"I'll try... Wait, what's that you've got?" Kiara questioned as she looked over to the blue flower in Richard's right hand.

"This? Oh, it's just a flower. I picked it for Tera; I just wanted to do something nice for her." Richard quietly stated.

Kiara smiled and replied, "I'm sure she'll like it."

"I hope so, she's been feeling a little down since we got shot at back in Vermillion." Richard said as he remembered the previous nights when she cuddled up to him and sobbed as she told him how much she means to her, and how much she worried for him.

Kiara had noticed Tera feeling a little down since then too, but she never really said anything about it. "I noticed, but she'll be back to her normal cheery self when this mission is over and everybody can go home." Kiara optimistically said.

Richard smiled; he enjoyed the thought of finishing the mission and coming back home heroes. Even if nearly nobody knew what they when through to bring down Silas, they would know, and they would still have each other and in the end, that's all that would matter.

"I hope we get home soon." Richard whispered to himself as he began walking back to the car. "Lets go, we don't want to keep the others waiting do we?" Richard asked with a smile.

"What about Bruce? I really pissed him off and I bet he's going to try something." Kiara told him.

"You should have thought about that before you pissed him off, but if he tries anything serious, I'll help you." Richard reassured her as he continued walking back the way he came from.

"Thanks." Kiara responded, as the two walked away.

Owen had finished gassing up the car and he was about to get into the car, before he glanced into the back through the smashed out window and saw that his team leader Richard and the Glaceon was missing. He also noticed that Bruce was holding his right hand. "Where is Richard and the Glaceon?" Owen asked, the question directed at Tera.

Tera looked out of the window and said, "Right there."

Owen looked over to see Richard and Kiara running over, he also noticed a blue rose-like flower in Richard's hand, but he had a good idea as to why he had it. Owen said no more, he just walked back over to the drivers side door, opened it, climbed in and closed it behind him.

Richard opened the door for Kiara and she jumped into her usual seat, and watched Bruce who was staring at her like he was trying to stare into her soul.

Bruce wanted to stay angry at her, if it were anyone else saying or doing these things then he would have knocked them out by now. But he couldn't stay angry at her, it just seemed hard to hate something so cute, besides, he was starting to like her style. "Bitch." Bruce whispered in an attempt to provoke her.

"Drunk." Kiara sharply replied. After that being said, they just sat and quietly stared at each other, trying to look as intimidating as possible.

Richard sat in his usual seat again, next to Tera. He smiled as he handed the strange blue flower to her and said, "Here, I picked this for you."

Tera's eyes went wide as she looked at the beautiful sweetly scented flower in her paws. "Its beautiful Richard, thank you." She said before she gave him a hug.

"I'm glad you like it." Richard whispered as the smiling Lucario stroked his back.

1 hour later...

Louis and Reaper were still chatting, Bruce and Kiara were still glaring at each other, Richard and Tera were still sitting quietly as they stroked and held each other and Owen was still driving the car through Johto.

Richard couldn't help but smile when Tera held the flower to her snout and breathed in it's sweet scent, she had done that a few times and every time she did, her smile seemed to get bigger and brighter.

Owen was driving the car when he heard Rhea's voice in his ear again.

"Owen, what's your current position?" Rhea asked.

Owen used one hand to steer the car and the other to press the button on his earpiece, a hard thing to do when one hand is wrapped in bandages and can't move properly. "We've made it into Johto, we're currently at route 46. Do you have our next recruit's location?" Owen responded.

"Yes, your next recruit is stationed at a military base just outside of Olivine City." Rhea said.

"Okay, heading there now but with terrain like this, I doubt we're going to make it today." Owen told her.

"That's fine, your recruit isn't heading anywhere anytime soon anyway. I'll give you an update if anything important comes up, good luck." Rhea said before her voice crackled out again.

Bruce looked over to Owen and shouted over, "Hey, where are we going?"

"Olivine City." Owen replied.

"Olivine City? It would have to be fucking Olivine City wouldn't it? Shit." Bruce angrily swore to himself. 'I knew I shouldn't have just fucking agreed to go along with this mission.' Bruce thought as he looked out of the window, he felt like punching himself for returning here.

Kiara looked at Bruce and and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Don't ask." Bruce said as he thought about what he was going to do, he wanted to stay away from Olivine City as far as possible, but at the same time, he wanted to go back there and live there. He still wasn't sure if moving away from Olivine City was a life saving move, or possibly the worst move of his life, or both. Bruce was about to reach down for another drink, he sure felt like he needed one but he stopped himself from actually grabbing one. '… Shit!... If I'm going to face them, I need to be sober.' Bruce thought to himself as he took his hand off the backpack and sat back in his seat again.

Kiara couldn't believe her eyes, she was certain that Bruce was going to pull out another drink yet he just sat back down in his seat. "You're not drinking... Are you dying?" Kiara asked with a smirk. Richard let out a sigh in response, he knew that one of them was going to try to provoke the other at some point, they all knew.

Bruce shot her another angry look before saying, "Shut up ice queen before I decide to become a pyromaniac and melt your icy ass down into ice cubes."

"Blah, blah, blah, same old crap from the same old drunk." Kiara taunted.

"Blah, blah, blah, go fuck yourself!" Bruce shouted back at her.

Kiara couldn't help but smile at the angry human, she enjoyed seeing him so worked up.

Richard could see Kiara thinking up something worse to say to Bruce, he figured that he should step in before they rip each other apart. "Why don't you two save your anger for the people who are trying to kill us all?" Richard asked them.

Kiara looked back over to Richard and said, "Pff, fine, I'll leave the drunken ass alone."

Bruce still stared at Kiara as he said, "And I'll leave the frozen bitch alone... For now."

That wasn't exactly what Richard was hoping to hear but he knew it was the best he was going to get. Richard rested his head on Tera's head, he knew that this day was going to be a long one, just like all the others since the mission started.

* * *

**Authors note: Okay, first off I'd like to say sorry for the delay on this one, Warrior was a little slow editing this one but a error with FF's story edit uploady chaptery thingy is what really held this chapter back. Just want you guys to know that I have certainly not given up on this story, by the time this chapter is uploaded (whenever the hell that may be) I will most likly have already sent chapter 31 to Warrior and Hironada for editing. Speaking of Hironada and Warrior, thank you guys again for editing this chapter, and as always, a big thank you to you awesome readers! This chapter was a fairly calm one, but lets just say that I'm planning something ^^**


	30. Family troubles

7 Hours later...

It was dark and the car had stopped in the forested area of route 42, just outside of Ecruteak City. Richard and Tera had already set up their tent, as did Louis and Reaper.

Bruce didn't bother to even get out his camping equipment; he instead moved some large logs to make up a sort of sitting area. Bruce hadn't touched a drop of alcohol since he heard that they were heading by Olivine City, and now he was really bored.  
'I need to find something to do before I go fucking insane.' He thought to himself. He looked to the campfire and thought of grabbing a flaming stick and chasing Kiara around with it to kill the boredom. Only when he thought about this did he suddenly realize that Kiara was nowhere to be seen.  
"Where is that rat?" Bruce mumbled to himself as he began walking around the campsite to find her. He wasn't concerned for her, he was just really bored, and he figured a good argument could kill the boredom.

Bruce walked deeper into the forest; he wasn't sure if Kiara was even in the forest or just back at camp somewhere, out of sight. He didn't really care anyway, it gave him some time to think about things and it gave him something to do, it wasn't fun but it was compared to staring at three bags full of alcohol that he wasn't allowing himself to touch which was kind of his idea of what hell would be like.

Bruce searched for a few minutes before he thought to himself, 'Fuck it, I'll find something better to do than searching for a blue bitch I don't even like.' Bruce was about to walk back, until he saw something out of the corner of his eye, something pale blue. 'Found ya!' Bruce thought to himself as he moved in for a closer look.

Kiara had found what she was looking for, Pecha berries. She happily bitten down into the soft sweet fruit, but then spun around when she heard footsteps behind her. "Bruce, step any closer and I'll freeze your balls off!" Kiara shouted at him.

"Pff, you're a jumpy little frozen bitch aren't ya?" Bruce responded with a smile.

"Only around a man whose problem is that he has too much blood in his alcohol system." Kiara snappily replied.

"What?" Bruce confusedly asked.

"I didn't think you would get that one either." Kiara said with a smirk.

Bruce thought about what she said in an attempt to come up with a smart comeback but all that he ended up saying was, "...Oh, fuck you!"

Kiara let out a little giggle at the stupid human in front of her. "Sorry, next time I'll remember that you have the brain power of a sleeping Snorlax. So, why exactly were you sneaking up on me like a drunken ninja?" Kiara inquired.

Bruce didn't even really know why he looked for her himself, but he tried to think of an answer. "I was bored, so I decided to come here to piss you off." Bruce answered with a smirk.

"Don't you just drink when you're bored? And excited... And anything else." Kiara asked.

Bruce didn't want to tell her that he had stopped drinking until they were out of Olivine City, he didn't want to tell her anything about his personal life. "I don't drink all the time!" Bruce lied.

Kiara almost burst out laughing, she nearly never seen him stumbling about without a bottle in his hand or passed out, with a bottle in his hand. "You liar!" Kiara blurted out.

"Hey, believe it or not, I wasn't born with a fucking bottle in my hand!" Bruce angrily retorted.

"You weren't? That's a surprise." Kiara sarcastically said.

"Ah, fuck this, I was better off staring at rocks than talking to you." Bruce said as he stormed off back the way he came.

Kiara waited until Bruce was no longer in sight and she could no longer hear him before she went back to eating the remaining Pecha berries she had found.

Richard was sitting on a log next to the campfire, looking through his backpack when Tera sat down beside him and asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Nothing." Richard replied as he kept looking through his backpack.

"You're looking for nothing?" Tera responded with a smile.

Richard chuckled a little before he felt something thin and card-like, he didn't know what it was but he pulled it out anyway. Both Richard and Tera looked at the photograph he pulled out. It was a picture of Ethan, Lucy, Mac, Cleaves, Stripes and themselves standing outside of the police station.  
Both Richard and Tera both remembered when this picture was taken, it was taken on New Year's Day with the camera Richard got from Tera as a Christmas present.

Richard smiled and asked, "Remember this?"

Tera smiled back and replied, "How could I forget, especially after what happened that night."

Richard looked back over to Tera who was now giving him a seductive look. "I can't wait to get back home so we can have more nights like that." Richard told her as he slipped the photo back into his backpack and looked into her eyes.

Tera kissed him on his cheek. "Neither can I." She quietly stated to him.

Richard had wanted to be alone with her for a while now, he just wanted to spend a quiet night with her, not worry about ambushes or people coming to kill them. He wanted to make love to her again, and she wanted to make love to him, but they both didn't want to be heard by people they have only known a few days. Richard wrapped an arm around her waist as she rested her head on his shoulder

Owen was sat on the log opposite Richard and Tera; he was doing nothing apart from eating a chocolate bar that he bought from the gas station. His attention was soon drawn to Bruce who sat down beside him and muttered, "Blue frozen bitch..."

"Still angry at her?" Owen asked.

"I don't forget that fucking easily, I swear I'll get that bitch back somehow." Bruce mumbled before he looked back over to the car, which his three backpacks full of alcohol were still in. He was missing the booze already.

Owen wasn't sure if he should say anything else, Bruce already seemed pretty pissed. Richard had noticed Bruce talking about Kiara again; he hoped that he could calm him down, again. "Kiara is snappy but I'm sure that she doesn't mean you any harm... Well, not much anyway." Richard told him.

"The bitch froze a fucking beer bottle to my lips! I know she's just fucking around with me like the twat she is, but fuck she's annoying!" Bruce exclaimed before taking another look at the car, still fighting the urge to shove as much booze as he possibly could down his throat.  
"Eh, I guess shouting at her was funnier than sitting here and staring at that fucking car though." Bruce added.

Richard had noticed that Bruce didn't have a bottle in his hand, this was a rare sight. Richard knew Bruce and Kiara liked annoying each other; it killed the boredom during the rides between places and gave the others something to watch.

1 Hour later...

Richard lay on his sleeping bag and looked over to Tera who still held the blue rose-like flower in her paws. Richard smiled as he stated, "I'm glad you like that flower so much."

Tera held the flower to her snout and inhaled its sweet scent once more. "It's really beautiful, and it smells really nice too." Tera replied with a big smile on her face.

"You're still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." Richard told her before giving her a kiss on top of her head.

Tera couldn't stop smiling; she never got tired of hearing compliments from Richard. "And you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Tera responded before putting the blue flower to one side and giving Richard a short sweet kiss.

Richard looked deeply into her crimson eyes, and got lost in them once more. Tera smiled as she looked into Richard's bluish-grayish eyes right before drawing him into another kiss.  
Together, they closed their eyes and just enjoyed the passionate kiss they were so happily engaged in.

Meanwhile...

Louis and Reaper were sat on the log Richard and Tera were previously sat on; Bruce and Owen were still sat on the other log. Louis turned to Reaper and asked, "Why did you stay with me after you rescued me?"

Reaper turned to Louis; he was surprised he would ask a question like that. "Why wouldn't I? You were just a kid; I couldn't just leave you..." Reaper answered before looking down to the ground; there was more to it than just that.

"Not even after Sharon and David took me in?" Louis questioned.

"You were scared when you first met them; I figured a friendly face could help you settle down with them. After a while, I just didn't see a reason as to why I should leave you, or why I should go back." Reaper told him.

Louis smiled; he knew he was lucky to have met Reaper. "Well, I'm just happy that I have a friend like you." As Louis said that, he saw that look again, the one that looked like Reaper was smiling.

Reaper was happy to hear him say that. "Hah, thanks kid... How's the leg?" Reaper asked as he looked down to the bandaged up wound on Louis' thigh.

"Better, but it's going to be a while before I can run properly." Louis told him with a smile.

"If we're lucky, we won't have to run anywhere." Reaper responded.

Louis laughed and questioned, "When have we been that lucky?" All Reaper responded with was a chuckle.

Bruce felt like crap, he felt like punching someone in the face, but most of all, he felt like he needed a drink. "Shit I'm bored... Hey, agent guy, want a shooting match?" Bruce asked Owen who was sitting next to him.

Owen turned to him and said, "That's not a good idea, we should conserve as much ammunition as possible."

Bruce let out a sigh. "Fucking hell, the ice queen is less of a buzz kill than you are." Bruce tiredly stated.

"I just don't think it's a good idea to be shooting off rounds in a forest while people are trying to kill us." Owen retorted.

"Well right now I'd rather be shooting at some slaver cunts than doing fuck all around here!" Bruce angrily shouted.

Owen could tell that the lack of alcohol was getting to him, he had complained about his drinking before, but now he wished he was drinking, it would probably calm him down. Owen's attention was drawn to Kiara who now walked towards Bruce.

Kiara had heard what he had to say. "Still being an ass as usual Bruce?" Kiara said with a smile.

Bruce looked over to her and said, "Still being a devious little shit?"

"I asked you first." Kiara responded with a smirk on her face.

Bruce looked over to the campfire, and a big smile came to his face. "Let me ask you another question... Are you afraid of fire?" Bruce deviously said.

Kiara had a confused expression on her face, but she knew what he was thinking. "Err, no." Kiara lied.

Bruce reached over to a loose flaming stick and grabbed it. "Shall we put that to the test?" Bruce asked as he quickly moved the flaming stick towards Kiara.

Kiara let out a yelp before jumping back and shouting, "What the hell are you doing you drunken ass?"

"Pay back is a bitch." Bruce stated before he quickly got up off the log and chased her with the flaming stick.

"Get the hell away from me before I freeze your legs and break them off your stupid ass!" Kiara shouted as she ran away from Bruce who tried to keep up with her.

"Try it rat and I'll shove this stick right down your fucking throat!" Bruce shouted back as he continued to chase after her around the campsite.

Kiara knew there was no way Bruce could catch up to her, so she decided to play around with him a little. "Don't hold that stick too close to your alcohol stained clothes, I wouldn't want to see you go up in flames... Not near me anyway." Kiara giggled.

"Tough fucking words for a rat shaped ice cube." Bruce laughed he chased her around a tree.

"How can I be a cube if I'm shaped like a rat?" Kiara pointed out as she led him around another tree.

"What? Fuck! You know what I mean!" Bruce shouted out as he chased her back through the campsite. Bruce soon realized that there was no way he was going to catch up to her, that's when he threw down the stick and shouted, "Ah, fuck this shit!"

Kiara looked behind her to see Bruce with a frustrated look on his face. "Given up?" Kiara asked with a smirk.

"Fine, you win, now fuck off!" Bruce barked at her before walking back to the log he sat at.

Kiara watched as Bruce sat on the same log Owen was sat at, still maintaining that pissed off look on his face. She enjoyed that look. "Sore loser." Kiara whispered as she headed back into the forest.

The next day...

Everyone was in the car once more, driving towards Olivine City. Bruce reached into one of his backpacks, but this time it wasn't to get a drink. Kiara saw Bruce reaching into her backpack and instantly said what was on her mind. "I knew it wouldn't be long till you would pull out another drink." Kiara stated with a frown.

Bruce shot her an angry look and said, "Don't look at me like that." Bruce felt around inside his backpack, until he felt something soft, he knew he found what he was looking for, now he had to find a way to get it in his pocket without Kiara noticing what it was.

Bruce had an idea, it wasn't a smart one, but it was an idea. Bruce looked out of the smashed window and yelled, "What the fuck is that?"

"What!" Kiara exclaimed as she looked out of the window and looked where Bruce was looking.

While Kiara was looking out of the window, Bruce quickly pulled out the soft blue teddy bear and stuffed it into his trouser pocket. "Oh, it's a dumb ass rat looking out of the car window." Bruce replied with a smirk.

Kiara looked back to Bruce with an angry expression on her face. 'How did I let that moron trick me?' Kiara asked herself. "Shut up." Was all Kiara had to say to him.

"Hah, I think we both know that I won't." Bruce replied with a smile.

Kiara let out a sigh; she knew she wouldn't hear the end of this.  
Bruce turned to Owen and said, "I have to do some shit in Olivine City so I'd be grateful if you could just... Stop the car wherever you want while we are there."

Owen thought about it for a second, he then decided that he should let his team leader decide. "Ask Richard, he's the leader anyway." Owen stated as he continued driving.

Richard looked over to Bruce and said, "Do what you've got to do... Just don't get yourself arrested."

A smirk grew to Bruce's face. "I'll try not to, but no promises." Bruce replied.

Kiara looked to Richard and Bruce with a frown. "Oh great, unleash him upon the poor citizens of Olivine City." Kiara said disapprovingly.

Richard smiled. "Well, look on the bright side Kiara, you can't complain about him being annoying if he isn't near you." Richard optimistically replied.

Bruce sat back in his seat and began thinking about what he should do when they dropped him off in Olivine City, he figured that the first thing he should do was to find his sister's house, wherever that was now.

30 Minutes later...

"Here, stop the car!" Bruce shouted over to Owen.

Owen did as he said and pulled over besides a pub, and Kiara instantly objected. "I knew it, planning on getting yourself thrown through another window Bruce?" Kiara said as she remembered the first time she met him.

Bruce just looked back to her and replied, "Not today." Bruce then climbed out of the car and closed its door behind him.

Owen quickly decided to tell him that this would be their meeting point. "Right, we should be back with the medic within the next two hours, we'll meet you back here then!" Owen shouted over to Bruce who just gave a nod in response.

Bruce now stood on the sidewalk of a fairly busy road, all he could see was numerous houses, he recognized the pub, and he knew he had a pretty long walk ahead of him. Without saying a word, he began walking up the sidewalk.

Kiara was surprised he didn't walk into the pub, that made her wonder where he was going. "Why didn't anyone ask him where he was going?" Kiara asked the others in the car.

Everybody just shrugged; Kiara just had to know what Bruce was up to. Before Owen could drive away, she quickly jumped out of the smashed out window. Tera quickly got out of her seat and went over to the smashed out window. "Kiara! Where are you going?" Tera shouted over to her as she watched Kiara almost turn a corner to go after Bruce.

Kiara looked back over to the car and shouted back, "To follow Bruce! Someone has to keep an eye on him!" Kiara then quickly followed Bruce, trying to keep her distance, and trying to stay unseen.

Bruce looked behind him, but all he saw was a deserted sidewalk behind him, for a second, he could have sworn he had heard Kiara's voice, but he guessed that must have been her shouting something like, 'goodbye drunkard!' out of the window as the car drove away.  
Bruce continued to walk up the sidewalk, he hoped that he still remembered the way back to his sisters place, it had been a few years since he last saw her, he didn't even know if she had moved.  
As Bruce walked through countless streets, he looked behind himself constantly, he felt like he was being watched. Bruce had left his shotgun and machete back in the car, but he still had his handgun.  
'Any fucker jumps out on me and I'll smack the twats around the face and kick them in the bollocks!' Bruce thought to himself as he walked down a quiet street.

20 minutes later...

"Well... Fuck, I'm lost." Bruce told to himself as he looked around the busy street, suddenly something caught his eye. On the street was a bus stop, behind that bus stop on the wall of the bus station was a public information terminal, and there was no one standing around it. "Maybe that fucker can help." Bruce said aloud before he walked over to it.

'Where the hell is he going now!' Kiara thought to herself as she watched Bruce from a distance while he walked over to the screen with writing on it in the wall.

Bruce stood at the terminal; its screen was full of instructions, and at the bottom, legal stuff. Bruce had used one of these a long time ago, he remembered that they were meant to be installed around the city, but that never happened.  
The way they were supposed to work was that you ask a question, and it answers it, say something, and it'll respond, or at least that's how it was supposed to work.

"Err, hello?" Bruce said to the screen.

"HELLO!" Shouted back a robotic female voice.

Bruce jumped back slightly, as did the people behind him waiting at the bus stop. "Fuck me that's loud!" Bruce shouted back in response.

"Then lets rock!" The robotic female voice shouted back.  
'Did I seriously hear that? From a fucking robot? Fucking awesome!' Bruce thought to himself. "Ha, I'm liking you... Ya crazy robot chick." Bruce stated with a smirk.

"Neither." The robotic voice replied flatly.

"What?" Bruce asked out of confusion.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" The robotic voice exclaimed.

Bruce thought he had just found the reason why they were never installed. 'This thing is fucking broken!' Bruce's voice said inside his mind. Bruce let out a sigh and asked, "How do I get to Norven Street?"

"Walk to the other side." The voice replied.

"The other side of what?" Bruce asked.

"The road." The voice stated.

"This road?" Bruce questioned as he scratched his head.

"This door." The robotic voice stated.

Bruce looked around himself before saying, "What? There is no fucking door!"

"I have a friend that I like, but I'm not sure if he likes me back. How can I find out?" The robotic voice asked.

Bruce had a look on his face that was a mixture of anger and confusion. "What the fuck? Hey, I'm trying to get directions; I don't have time to solve boyfriend issues with computers!" Bruce shouted at the Terminal.

Kiara watched as people in the street stopped walking to watch the argument between Bruce and the terminal. 'What the hell is he doing!' She thought to herself while still watching the conversation grows stranger.

"He saved me." The female robotic voice told Bruce.

Bruce just wanted to smash this terminal's screen in, but he just had to ask. "Ugh, who?" Bruce inquired.

"Sebastian?" The terminal said as if it were a question.

Bruce's patience was running low. "...Right, no more bullshit. Norven street, do you know how to get there?" Bruce angrily asked.

"I don't know who that is." The terminal replied.

"It's not a fucking person, it's a fucking street! Do you know where the fuck it is?" Bruce asked as his hands balled up into fists, he was already angry about keeping himself away from his own drinks, and this terminal wasn't helping him get any calmer.

"My answer is a keyboard. Final answer." The terminal responded.

"Wrong fucking answer!" Bruce shouted out before he raised his fist but stopped himself from punching the terminal's screen.

"Do the right thing, and be good please!" The terminal said, almost mockingly.

That sent Bruce over the edge. "Fuck you!" Bruce shouted at the terminal before punching its thick glass screen, cracking it down the middle.  
Bruce knew it wasn't going to help him, but at least he got to vent out his rage on something, but that just created a new problem. 'Oh great, now my fucking knuckles are bleeding again!' Bruce angrily thought to himself.

"Do you leave the bathroom door wide open when you know you are the only person in the house?" The terminal inquired.

Bruce was actually surprised, he expected it to say a lot of things, but that was not one of them "What the shit? Oh, you're so fucking broken!" Bruce yelled as he began to back away from it.

"Thanks I appreciate that." The terminal replied.

Bruce was tired of arguing with the terminal, and he didn't really care for being stared at by passersby's. "Fuck this, I'll find the street myself." Bruce sighed as he began to walk away.

"So, what music do you like?" The terminal asked.

Bruce stopped walking away and turned back to the terminal, he just felt like he had to answer it to see what dumb ass response it would come up with next. "Metal and rock." Bruce answered.

"That's. Awesome." The terminal replied.

When Bruce heard it say that, he had a big grin on his face. "Finally, you say something that makes some fucking sense!" Bruce shouted.

"What makes sense to you?" The robotic voice asked.

Bruce let out a sigh before saying, "Couldn't stay quiet, could you?"

"No." The terminal flatly answered back.

Bruce didn't bother to say anything back; he knew that if he did then he would just spend an eternity of yelling at that stupid machine instead of trying to find his sister, which was what he was searching for in the first place.  
The thing that Bruce found the worst was that he would never have the last word with that machine. Bruce noticed some of the people staring at him, that's when he suddenly realized that he just had an argument with a machine in front of about one hundred people.  
'Shit, they must think I'm a dick... Oh well, fuck them!' Bruce thought before he threw a V shape with his fingers towards the crowd and shouted, "Enjoy the show fuckers?"

Bruce then walked away, he wasn't sure if it was the lack of drink, or the anxiety of meeting his sister for the first time since the incident, but he felt a lot angrier and edgier than usual. Maybe it was just the city, just being there was like a constant reminder of that night.

Kiara continued to follow Bruce, she knew that she wouldn't be bored watching Bruce, but she did still wonder why he would want to go to that street he was asking that terminal about. She guessed that she would find out why Bruce wants to get to that street so badly.  
Again, she stayed out of sight; she wouldn't want him knowing that she was following him, not after what she saw him do to the terminal.

10 minutes later...

It had taken Bruce some time, but he was finally here, he was finally at his sister's house. As he approached the door, he felt something that he hadn't felt for some time, fear.  
He was afraid of what her reaction would be to seeing her brother on her doorstep, he wouldn't have been surprised if she slaps him around the face or shouts at him, he could take it, but at least he would get to seen her again.  
He braced himself for whatever was coming. Bruce knocked on the white door three times, and he could hear someone coming to answer the door.

"Who is it?" A female voice called out from behind the door.

Bruce took a deep breath before saying, "It's me, Bruce."

"B-Bruce?" The woman behind the door asked as she opened up the door to find Bruce there on her doorstep, looking rougher than ever.

Bruce looked at his sister for the first time in years, she was almost exactly the way he remembered her, just as tall as he was with long blonde hair, green eyes like Bruce's and looking younger than she actually was. "Kelly... I'm sorry." Bruce said in advance.

Kelly wrapped her arms around Bruce and gave him a hug. "Bruce, I've missed you so much." Kelly told him as she felt tears coming to her eyes.

Bruce hugged Kelly back tightly, he was glad that she was happy to see him. "I've missed you too." He said as he rubbed her back.

Kelly sobbed into Bruce's shoulder. "I-I didn't want you to leave me!" Kelly shouted as she cried.

"I didn't want to, but I had to! I would have just put you in more danger, I almost got you killed!" Bruce shouted back as he felt tears coming to his own eyes.

Kelly wanted to argue, but she couldn't find the strength to do it. "Bruce, just... Come inside." Kelly said as she let go of him and led him inside her house.

Kiara watched Bruce walk into the house and the door close behind him. 'Who was that woman? His girlfriend maybe?' Kiara thought to herself as she found a spot to wait for Bruce to come out of the house.

Kelly sat down with Bruce on the couch in her living room before asking, "Why did you leave after I got shot?" Kelly asked as she felt more tears coming to her eyes. Bruce had already answered that question in a letter to her after he left, but she had to hear it from Bruce.

"I... I put you in danger and I almost got you killed, those cunts were coming after me and they wanted me dead. As long as I was around you, I was putting you in danger, I just didn't know until... You know." Bruce said to her as he looked down to the floor.

"Did... You think about me while you were in Kanto?" Kelly asked.

"All the time, I was worried for you every night! I couldn't even get to sleep most nights." Bruce started before he pulled out a blue soft teddy bear. "Remember this?" Bruce asked as he the teddy in one hand.

Kelly had a surprised expression on her face, that was the same teddy bear that she had given to him as protection when Bruce joined up for the army; she hadn't seen it since she gave it to him. "Y-you still have it?" Kelly asked as she looked at the old teddy bear.

"I never could throw it away; I knew it meant a lot to you." Bruce told her.

Kelly could see that Bruce had put himself through a lot; she had even heard that he had become an alcoholic from one of his old friends. "You've began drinking again, haven't you?" Kelly asked him.

"Yeah." Bruce answered.

"Bruce, you're going to kill yourself if you keep drinking like you did before!" Kelly shouted at him as she remembered how much he used to drink when he came back from the army.  
"I'm hard to kill." Bruce simply responded.

"Bruce, please just slow down on the drinking." Kelly pleaded with him.

Bruce let out a sigh. "Fine, I will." Bruce lied.

"I hope you're telling the truth... Why are you here then if you put me in so much danger?" Kelly questioned.

Bruce wasn't sure if he should tell her about the mission, but he decided that she deserved to know everything. "I'm on a mission..." Bruce answered.

Kelly had a surprised look on her face. "A mission? B-but you left the army didn't you?" Kelly asked with clear concern.

"I did, but something came up..." Bruce started as he wondered if he should tell her the details, but then he decided that it would probably make her a target, he couldn't let himself do that again. "Anyway, I'm here because this might be the last chance I get to see you again." Bruce added.

Kelly had a scared look on her face; she knew that whatever her brother had gotten himself into, it was bad. "Why?" Kelly quickly asked.

"Because the mission that I'm on is insane, and I don't expect that I'll be coming out of it without a new hole." Bruce told her.

Kelly was frightened for him, it seemed like he always put himself in danger, even when he wasn't in the army.

1 hour later...

Bruce had calmed Kelly down, and talked to her a lot. He talked to her about their parents, their lives, and what they were planning to do in the future. It was perhaps one of the most normal conversations that Bruce had in years, but then he had to leave.  
The others would be arriving at that pub soon with the new recruit, and he had to be there. He had hoped that he would get the chance to talk to his parents, from what Kelly said it sounded like they thought he was a coward for running away; he really wanted to pay them a visit and tell them exactly why he did it and why he doesn't care what they think.  
He figured that if he lived through the mission, then that would be the next thing on his to do list. Bruce had thought that coming back here was a very stupid thing to do, but now he was glad he did it, if he didn't, he would have gone on thinking his sister hated him for leaving her.  
Bruce now had one less excuse to drink now, but that wasn't going to stop him getting really drunk later though.  
He then exited her house, saying nothing else but a simple 'goodbye', and began walking back to the pub, never looking back.

Kiara, who had tried to listen in on their conversation, followed him, still wondering what was going on.

* * *

**Author's note: Well, at least I managed to get this one out early! And let me thank the usual people, Hironada, Infinity Warrior and you awesome readers! Just wanted to tell you that I have already sent off chapter 31 for editing! Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	31. The Medic

Bruce got about 10 feet away from the house, until he heard his sister's voice again.

"Bruce!" Kelly called out to him.

Bruce stopped in his tracks and turned to face her to see what she had to say. Kelly gave him a short hug and quietly said, "Come back soon."

Bruce hugged her back and said, "I will."

Kelly soon stopped hugging him to let him leave, even though she didn't want him to. Kelly watched her brother walk down the street; hoping that she would see him again soon.

Bruce walked away, down the street. He hid the fact that he was actually really pissed to be leaving her again, but leaving her wasn't the only thing on his mind.  
There we're people that really didn't like him in this city, and he felt like someone was watching him. He just hoped that if someone was watching him that they would come after him and ignore his sister.

Kiara continued to follow him, although she had tried to listen in to their conversation, the glass of the window she was looking in through was too thick to actually hear anything through. All she heard was mumbles, but she was determined to find out what was going on.

Meanwhile...

Owen was now very close to the military base, it was now in sight, it wasn't long until he heard Rhea's voice calling to him again. "The recruit will be waiting at the front gates of the base; he has already been informed of the mission and has agreed to aid you in whatever way he can." Rhea informed him.

As the car got closer to the military base, he could see five men at the main gate, four armed with assault rifles that he couldn't quite make out, the one man that didn't have an assault rifle also wore a different uniform from the rest, and carried a military bag with him.

Owen pressed the button down on the earpiece and said, "I think I can see him."

The car soon came to a stop just a few feet away from the men. Owen stepped out of the car, and nobody else. He approached the man in the middle, which was defiantly the recruit he was looking for, late twenties, short blond hair parted in the middle and light brownish eyes with a red tint to them.  
He was wearing combat boots, completely green combat trousers, a gray shirt under his combat jacket and a leg holster strapped to his right thigh which held a handgun. "Are you Kovick?" Owen asked just to get confirmation.

"Yeah that's me, shall we get to it then?" Kovick asked tiredly.

"Follow me, the rest of the team are in the car." Owen told him as he walked back over to the car.

Kovick opened one of the car's back doors to find a female Lucario that wore a silver necklace with a miniature sword on it, holding the hand of a man sitting next to it, and on the seats opposite them, another man with a bandaged up thigh wearing primarily blue clothing with a male Scyther with what looked to be red spray paint on the edges of his claws.  
Kovick closed the door behind him and sat on the same set of seats the Lucario and the other man with the faux hawk was sitting on.  
'Should I say hello or something?' Kovick asked himself as he sat down on the seat closest to the smashed out window. "Err, what happened to this car?" Kovick asked as he looked at the dented door and the glassless window.

Richard decided he should answer him. "We were attacked, two Ryhorn smashed into the side of the car. Tera and I had to smash out the glass to get out. I'm Richard by the way, this is Tera." Richard informed him as he pointed to the Lucario besides him.

"My name is Kovick, what about you two over there?" Kovick asked the man sitting next to the Scyther.

"Louis, Reaper." Louis replied.

"And you?" Kovick asked the man that had just started driving away from the military base.

"Owen, we'll be picking up two other people that are a part of our team." Owen told him.

Kovick nodded and then asked, "Why do you need me for this mission anyway?"

"Because we need someone with medical knowledge in the team, someone who can treat both humans and Pokémon but can also fight. You were the best candidate for the position. You'll be needing this, take it." Owen told him as he found another earpiece and threw it to Kovick.

"What if I didn't want the position?" Kovick asked as he got out of his seat and caught the earpiece.

"I would have found a way to persuade you to join our team, or find someone else." Owen admitted.

Kovick didn't like the way he said 'persuade', he didn't trust the agent, but the man with the faux hawk seemed nice. "What is this for then?" Kovick questioned as he looked at the earpiece in his hands.

"It's a translator, you'll be able to understand Pokémon speech with that in your ear." Owen informed him.

"Really? Well, impressive." Kovick said quietly as he tried to get the earpiece into a comfortable position.  
When Kovick stopped fiddling around with the earpiece, he looked around at the people in the back of the car with him; their clothing didn't exactly look military issue. "Are you guys part of the army?" Kovick inquired.

Richard turned to him again and answered, "No, I used to be a cop with Tera, and before that, I was a mercenary."

Kovick gave a puzzled look before asking, "If you're not part of the army, then why did you two join?"

"We joined to stop Silas and his men from coming to Hoenn, and killing our friends." Richard told Kovick before he looked back over to Tera. Richard couldn't help but feel responsible for her coming along with him, although he knew that he couldn't stop her, she was just strong like that. That was one of the many things that he loved about her, then again, he loved everything about her.

Kovick had a feeling that the man he was talking to, Richard was partners with the female Lucario sitting beside him. Kovick wondered if they were sexually active, and if they knew everything that needed to be known.  
In the best of mentions, he decided to ask. "Uh… Are you two… In a relationship?" Kovick asked, oblivious to the embarrassment that came from it. "Err… Well… I love her if that's what you mean. You do mean that, right?" Richard responded. "Never mind then." He replied. He knew that something was going on between them.  
If they didn't, then he guessed that he would just have to pull them aside at some point and tell them. Kovick kicked the thoughts about giving the couple medical advice and quickly turned his attention to Louis and Reaper. "What about you two, why did you guys join?" Kovick asked curiously.

Louis was the first to answer his question. "I joined to kill a slaver, now I'm staying to kill some more." Louis answered.

"And I'm here to make sure the boy doesn't get himself into too much trouble." Reaper said with what looked to be a smile.

Kovick was surprised to hear Reaper and understand him; he guessed that the earpiece really works. "So then... Where are we going now?" Kovick asked, trying not to sound too surprised and confused about the earpiece.

"Olivine City, the two I mentioned before are there." Owen told him as he continued driving.

Meanwhile...

'Some fucker is following me!' Bruce thought to himself as he walked down a street, every time he looked behind him, it seemed like the person who was following him just disappeared.  
'Right, that fucker is going to get a big surprise.' Bruce thought to himself as he turned to his right and walked down a dark alley.

Kiara took a peek around the corner of the street. 'I can't see him; he must have gone down that alley... The idiot must have forgotten which way he came.' Kiara thought to herself as she began running down the street in an attempt to keep up with him.  
Kiara stopped running when she reached the alley and took a peek around the corner. All she could see was two dumpsters and another street down the other end of the alley. 'He's fast for a drunk!' Kiara thought as she began running down the alley.

Bruce could hear footsteps, or paw steps, for Bruce, it was hard to tell. 'Right, get a load of this you fucker!' Bruce thought to himself right before he jumped out from behind the dumpster with a piece of 2x4 wood in his hands.

"AH!" Kiara shouted out right before she jumped back, startled at the sight of the man swinging the piece of wood in her direction.

Bruce swung the piece of wood with great force, but all he hit was the dumpster which made a loud banging noise. "Fuck!" Bruce shouted as he then looked at what he was swinging at. "You! What the fuck are you doing here!" Bruce shouted at Kiara, whose frozen fur now stood on end on her back like needles.

"I-I was just-" Kiara tried to explain before she was interrupted.

"_I-I was just _WHAT! Spying on me!" Bruce yelled, getting angrier by the second.

"Well someone had to watch your drunken ass!" Kiara quickly shot back.

"I'm not fucking drunk!" Bruce shouted before throwing the piece of wood at a wall and storming off.

"Where are you going!" Kiara shouted over to him.

"To get fucking drunk!" Bruce yelled back at her.

"Oh, like I didn't see that coming." Kiara mumbled to herself before running up behind Bruce. "So, who was that woman?" Kiara asked.

Bruce pretended to not know what she was talking about and asked, "What woman?"

"The woman whose house you went into, you know, the one with the blond hair that you hugged." Kiara replied.

Bruce stopped in his tracks and turned to Kiara. "Fuck! How long were you following me?" Bruce questioned.

"Long enough to see you make a complete ass out of yourself by getting into a fight with a computer." Kiara replied with a smile.

"That fucking computer deserved a punch!" Bruce responded as he began walking again.

"So, who was that woman?" Kiara asked once again, not willing to let it go.

"I'm not telling you shit!" Bruce shouted over his shoulder.

"Girlfriend?" Kiara guessed.

"Ha, you would like to know that wouldn't you?" Bruce replied with a smirk on his face.

"Don't flatter yourself drunkard! So, is she?" Kiara probed.

"Did I melt your cold little heart?" Bruce asked as his smirk grew into a smile.

"Shut up." Kiara said as she started to get a little annoyed, and a little embarrassed.

"Tell me, do you get all hot thinking about me?" Bruce inquired as he tried to stop his smile growing into a grin.

"If I ever get hot around you, it will only be because you sat too close to the campfire and went up in flames." Kiara told him.

"Yeah, try to hide your undying love for my badassary with jokes." Bruce said to her.

"Badassary? Don't you mean your drunken dickary?" Kiara sharply insulted.

"So that's what you love about me!" Bruce exclaimed as he chuckled a little.

"I never said that!" Kiara yelled at him, blushing slightly.

"It sounded like you said it." Bruce replied, leaning in, and noticing the red tint.

"You need to stop drinking, you're hearing things." Kiara flatly told to him.

"Yeah, I'm hearing the sound of an ice rat falling in love with the man with the iron liver!" Bruce shouted out as he let out some laughs.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you actually do have an iron liver." Kiara spat at him.

"I have an iron liver, balls of steel and a cock of rock! I bet you really wanted to know about the last two." Bruce teased her.

Kiara sighed and stated, "Oh, what a pretty picture you paint, I think I'm going to be sick."

Bruce laughed before saying, "If it's a picture you want, all you have to do is ask."

Kiara faked almost puking before replying, "The last thing I want is a picture of you sitting on a couch, in a mankini with nothing but a bowl of fruit covering your non-existent man bits."

"You got a real good mental image there didn't you?" Bruce asked as he took a turn and walked down yet another street.

"And now it shall haunt me in my nightmares." Kiara told him.

"I thought it would be fuel for your dreams." Bruce responded with a big smile on his face.

Kiara suddenly realized something; Bruce still hadn't answered her question. "Then you obviously don't know me well at all, now are you going to stop avoiding my question?" Kiara asked.

"What question?" Bruce replied with a smirk.

"Who was that woman you were with?" Kiara questioned.

Bruce let out a sigh and replied, "You're not going to stop asking me that, are you?"

"Nope." Kiara replied.

"Fucking fine then, I guess I can tell you. She's my sister, alright?" Bruce finally told her as he walked down yet another street.

"Sister? What's her name?" Kiara curiously inquired.

"Kelly." Bruce said.

"How old is she?" Kiara asked.

"I don't know." Bruce told her.

"You don't know? How can you not know how old your sister is?" Kiara asked.

"Well I haven't seen her for the past four years but, she was around 23 when... She's probably 27 now." Bruce said before he began walking quicker.

"Four years? Why didn't you see her for four years?" Kiara inquired.

"Just fucking drop it, I made a fucking huge mistake and she ended up paying for it, alright!" Bruce angrily yelled. He wasn't angry at her, he was angry at himself.

Kiara said nothing more; she just followed him back to the pub where they said they would meet up with Richard, Tera and the others.

10 minutes later...

Kiara was sat on a bar stool next to Bruce, inside the pub. Kiara watched as Bruce downed drink after drink. "Does that crap really taste that good?" Kiara asked as she pointed a paw towards the beer that Bruce held in his hand.

Bruce smirked before saying, "If you want, I could buy you one." Bruce thought that seeing a drunken Glaceon was exactly what he needed to brighten up his day.

"Err, no thanks." Kiara stated to him, not wanting to end up like his drunken ass.

"Are you sure? It's not often I offer to buy someone a drink." Bruce told her.

Kiara thought about it, she wondered why he'd even want to buy her a drink. 'He must be planning something, maybe a plan to get at me for freezing his drinks and following him...' Kiara thought to herself before she said, "I'm sure."

"Suit yourself." Bruce told her before he downed the beer in his hand.

Kiara's and Bruce's attention was soon drawn to a man that was standing by the pub's door shouting, "Bruce, you bastard you're back!"

Bruce looked behind him to see a familiar face. The man was wearing a black shirt and jeans that were wore around both knees. The man himself was about the same height as Bruce, although he was skinnier and had greasy looking brown hair as well as dark rings under his eyes.  
"Kirk?" Bruce questioned out of disbelief. "I thought you were dead, I even had a little celebration drink. I planned on finding your grave and pissing on it while I'm still here." Bruce smugly stated to him.

"Ha-ha, fucking funny. Still the worthless dickhead that owes me money from a few years back?" Kirk asked him sarcastically.

"Still the worthless junkie fuck I pissed off a few years back?" Bruce snappily replied.

"Where is my fucking money Bruce!" Kirk shouted at him.

Kiara looked around the pub to see that everybody's attention was on Bruce and Kirk.

"Up your fucking ass! I don't owe you shit!" Bruce shouted back at him.

Kirk stormed up towards Bruce and shouted, "Who the fuck do you-" Kirk couldn't finish his sentence, as Bruce smashed the glass of beer over his head right before he got out of his chair and pushed him back with both hands, making Kirk fall to his back on the floor.

"You fucking want to get knocked the fuck out! Do you? You fucking druggie cunt!" Bruce shouted before he looked to the front door of the pub to see two men, part of Kirk's gang. They were both dressed in scruffy hooded sweaters, sweatpants and old looking beat up trainers.  
Their clothes looked almost as dirty as their faces, they were skinny with pale complexions, they were obviously addicted to something. "Fucking come on!" Bruce shouted at them as he raised his fists and got ready for a fight.

Kirk shuffled away from Bruce whilst still on the floor and looked behind him, towards his men. "What the fuck are you dumb shits waiting for? Get in there and fucking smash his face in!" Kirk ordered his men.

'Two against one? That isn't fair.' Kiara thought to herself as she jumped off her stool and besides Bruce.

Bruce looked over to Kiara who was now by his side. 'Heh, she's pretty damn cute.' Bruce thought as he smirked and whispered to Kiara, "Coming to protect your one true love?"

"Shut up." Kiara snapped back at him as she waited for the men to try and come at them.

Bruce could see the nervous looks on their faces, and the pissed off expression on Kirk's face. "I don't think your men are listening to you Kirk, maybe you shouldn't have pumped them full of drugs." Bruce spat at him as he watched Kirk stand up on his own two feet again.

Kirk was really pissed, but he tried to calm himself. He took a deep breath, turned around to his men, and punched one of them right in the face, almost breaking the man's nose. Kirk then turned to the other one and shouted, "Fucking useless cunt!"

Bruce smirked as he sarcastically said, "Wow, skinny drug addicts aren't good bodyguards, who would have thought it, huh?"

Kirk lost his temper and charged towards Bruce. Kirk was about to throw a punch, but Bruce had already threw a right hook punch to the side of Kirk's face, making him flop down to the ground.

Bruce laughed before he looked at the men standing at the door of the pub, the one that got punched by Kirk was now holding his bleeding nose, and the one that got shouted at just looked very edgy, shifting around a lot, not standing still.  
Bruce knew it wouldn't be long before the police arrive, so he began walking towards the door. "Out of the way." Bruce coldly said to the Kirk's men who then stepped aside to let Bruce and Kiara past.

Kiara stepped out onto the sidewalk with Bruce and almost immediately asked, "Are you going to tell me what all that was about?"

Bruce smiled and said, "Maybe later. I just hope our ride arrives before the cops do... Thanks for jumping to my side and doing nothing by the way."

Kiara smirked and replied, "It looked like you were handling things well."

"So you just stood there, looking pretty while I do all the hard work." Bruce mumbled.

Kiara's smirk grew into a grin. "So you think I'm pretty?"

Bruce quickly looked back down to her. "Don't flatter yourself ice queen." Bruce replied with a smirk, which gradually grew into a grin. 'Bruce, stop grinning you twat! Stop it! You're going to look like a pervy dick!' Bruce's voice shouted at himself in his mind.

Kiara hadn't ever seen Bruce with a grin like that before, for a second, she thought she could see him blushing, but she ignored that. "Why are you grinning? Did you see a full bottle of vodka or something?" Kiara snappily asked him with a smirk on her face.

Bruce tried to give a pissed off look, but he couldn't get that grin off his face, the harder he tried, the more he felt his face getting hotter. "No, now shut it popsicle." Bruce mumbled back at her as he looked away, towards the pub. Bruce really didn't want her to see him blushing.  
'Fuck... Why does the fucking rat have to be so fucking cute!' Bruce's voice shouted in his mind as he glanced back over to Kiara.

"Oh, that's what I get for jumping to your side? Fine, I won't be helping your drunken ass again." Kiara playfully said.

"As if I need your help." Bruce mumbled back.

Kiara smirked as she stated, "You still haven't thanked me for saving your life."

Bruce let out a sigh, he knew it wouldn't be long before she brought that up again. "You're right! Thank you, oh glorious little ice queen for saving this drunkard's life, fucking happy now?" Bruce sarcastically asked.

"Actually, yes." Kiara replied with a grin.  
Bruce looked down the road to see that big battered armored car heading there way. "Good for you ratty, now let's get the fuck out of here before the cops show up." Bruce told her just as the car stopped near them.  
Bruce wasted no time in getting into the back of the car, and neither did Kiara. As soon as Bruce sat back in his seat, he looked over to Kovick and asked, "Hey, looks like we've got a new guy. What's your name then?"

"Kovick, you must be Bruce." Kovick replied.

"Yeah, that's me. The ice bitch that's sat next to you is Kiara." Bruce told Kovick.

Kiara smirked at Bruce once more before sarcastically saying, "Oh, you say the nicest things to the girl you love."

Almost as soon as Kiara said that, Louis, Reaper, Richard and Tera all looked towards Kiara and Bruce, all wondering what she meant by that.

"The day that I admit my undying love for you is the day the world's supply of alcohol runs out." Bruce responded.

"Oh, so you do love me!" Kiara teased.

"Don't make me throw you out of this fucking car!"

"You didn't deny it." Kiara added with a big grin on her face.

"Fuck you." Bruce angrily bursted.

"I bet that's exactly what you want to do to me!" Kiara exclaimed as she began to giggle.

"In your wet dreams!" Bruce almost instantly shot back. 'I wonder what it would be like to fuck her anyway.' Bruce thought to himself.

"You still haven't denied it." Kiara replied with a smile on her face.

Bruce frowned and mumbled, "If I were to stick my dick in you, it would probably freeze right the fuck off!"

"I bet you would chance it." Kiara teased playfully.

"No I fucking wouldn't!" Bruce angrily retorted.

Everybody watched awkwardly as Kiara taunted Bruce more and more. Kiara enjoyed annoying Bruce, for her, it was the funniest thing to do while she was on this mission where they face death every day.

1 hour later...

Everything had calmed down; Bruce and Kiara were no longer annoying each other, yet. Nobody knew where Owen was driving to, they didn't bother to ask, or just didn't want to know.

Kovick looked around and thought about his new teammates.  
'That Scyther looks a little aged, bet it could still do some damage though... I can understand bringing along that man sitting next to the Scyther, the other man and the Lucario and even the Glaceon... But why bring a drunk?' Kovick thought to himself as he watched Bruce finishing off a bottle of vodka before throwing it out of the window.  
'That can't be good for the environment... Or his liver.' Kovick mused in his mind as he then looked over to the window, from which he could then see they were at some kind of dock judging from the large ships that he could see.  
"Are we leaving Johto?" Kovick asked as he leaned forward in his seat.

Owen was wondering when someone would finally ask where they were going to. "Yes, we'll be leaving on a cruise ship; I believe Richard, Tera and Kiara will be familiar with the ship." Owen stated.

Kiara's ears perked up as she asked, "It's not the same one with those snobby people on every deck is it?"

Owen let out a chuckle. "Well, those people aren't always there." Owen told her.

"I hope not, if they are, I just might be tempted to freeze their expensive shoes to the floor." Kiara told him with a smirk on her face.

"Try to keep a low profile; we don't want to attract any unwanted attention." Owen said to all of them in the back whilst keeping his eyes on the road.

Bruce looked around as he thought, 'Yeah, keep a low profile with two wounded men, a Scyther that has red spray paint on its claws, a Lucario with an expensive necklace, and a bitchy Glaceon.' Bruce began searching through one of his backpacks again and quickly found a bottle pulled of vodka, which he then opened up and began drinking.  
Once Bruce had lowered his drink, he noticed Kiara giving him a disapproving look. "What? Do you want a sip?" Bruce asked her with a smirk.

"No thanks, I value my ability to find my own ass." Kiara spat to him.

"That ability is overrated." Bruce stated with a smile as he raised the bottle to his lips once more and took several big gulps before lowering the bottle again.

Tera rested her head on Richard's shoulder as she thought about that cruise ship. She looked up to Richard and asked him with a smile, "Richard, can we dance in that ballroom again?"

Richard looked to her with a bright smile on his face. "Well it would probably piss off more posh snobs, so I don't see why not. You're a really good dancer by the way." Richard told her before he gave her a kiss on top of her head.

"So are you." Tera responded before she kissed Richard's lips.

"You know, I think that was the first time I've actually ever danced with someone else before." Richard whispered to her.

Tera smiled as she replied, "It was a first for me too."

"Well, I can't wait to do it with you again." Richard happily responded.

Tera blushed as she suggestively said, "I can't wait to do it with you again either."

Hearing that turned Richard's smile into a grin. Richard was about to say something, but Owen had something to say to all of them.

"We're here." Owen said as he stopped the car by the same massive cruise ship Owen, Kiara, Richard and Tera all arrived in Kanto on. "You should all get onto the ship now, give them these and the won't ask any questions. Take them Richard." Owen added as he pulled out some tickets which looked very familiar to Richard.

Richard got up and took the tickets out of Owen's hand, as he did he quickly examined them. They were the same first class tickets that Owen had given him last time.

Kiara let out a sigh as she remembered how she couldn't get into her room the last time they were on that damn ship.

* * *

**Author's notes: Sorry this took so long to get uploaded, but Warrior was reeeeeally slow sending it to me, but again, wanna thank both him and Hironada for helping me out with this chapter. And again, I wanna thank you for reading. If you were a little pissed at this chapter being so late, then take a look at this youtube vid of a pop tart cat that flys through space shitting rainbows, it cheered me up :3 Nyan! /watch?v=2yJgwwDcgV8**


	32. Old friend

20 minutes later...

"Fucking keys..." Bruce mumbled as he tried to put the keys into the door to the first class room. "They don't fucking fit!" Bruce began to angrily yell, but he quickly quieted down when he realized that he was holding the key upside down. "Oh, I'm a fucking moron." Bruce said to himself as he twirled the key around with his fingers and slotted it into the key hole. Bruce turned it and opened the door to his room. "First fucking class!" Bruce shouted as he looked around the gold and white themed room with the large plasma screen TV and massive bed.

Bruce kicked the door closed, he then carried over his three backpacks full of booze and placed them near the bed before throwing himself onto it. Bruce felt like he had earned a rest after finding his sister in a city he left years ago and getting into a fight with a drug addict. He looked up to the ceiling before closing his eyes, and trying to get some sleep. There was something sticking in his mind, stopping him from sleeping, Kiara.

Louis and Reaper were in their room. Louis was taking a look at what was on TV and Reaper was just talking to him. "We're getting paid after we take out Silas, what are you going to buy?" Reaper asked.

Louis chuckled before answering, "A better gun to kill all the other slavers... Maybe a sports car too, something fast and awesome. Something that guzzles gas faster than a tank."

Reaper chuckled a little, it was nice to know that Louis still had his childish side. "Something that you can pick up girls in, eh kid?" Reaper replied with what looked to be a smile.

"Ha, yeah. Maybe I'll even buy an expensive suit to go with it." Louis said with a smile.

"Next you'll say you also want massive golden chains around your neck and some cool looking sunglasses." Reaper stated with a laugh.

"Only if they look good on me." Louis said with a smirk. "So, what will you be buying with your money?" Louis added.

"Me? Well, maybe some body armor. I mean hell, how many times have we been shot at now? But if you mean luxuries, then probably a house. Somewhere tropical, preferably near other Scythers." Reaper told him.

"You miss being with your own people?" Louis questioned.

"A little, but it's the company I miss most." Reaper stated.

Louis smirked as he asked, "What kind of company?"

"Get your mind out of the gutter... But yeah, that kind of company." Reaper chuckled.

"You dirty bastard, I bet you had a harem back in your clan." Louis joked as he let out a little laugh.

"Ha, I wish. So, we're not going to waste all day in this cushy room are we?" Reaper asked.

"Kiara said there is a bar a deck below us, wanna go check it out?" Louis asked.

"What are the chances Bruce will be there?" Reaper questioned with a smile.

"Very high, but hell, we don't have to talk to him." Louis said with a smile.

"Well then, lets get hammered!" Reaper shouted out as he headed for the door.

"Right behind you." Louis replied as he followed Reaper out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Richard and Tera walked into the ballroom once more, and were surprised by what they saw. The room was no longer occupied by snobby human couples that hated their guts, instead it seemed that it was a mix of couples, both human and Pokemon.

There was a man on the dance floor that was dancing with a Blaziken, they could also see a few Pokemon dancing with other Pokemon. Richard guessed that Unova must allow Pokemon and human relationships after all. Wouldn't these people want to head to somewhere that allows their relationships? That seems much better than hiding from the law anyway. Richard held out his hand to Tera and asked, "May I dance with the most beautiful woman in the world again?"

"Yes, you may." Tera said with a smile as she placed her paw in Richard's hand as he led her into the middle of the room.

Richard wrapped one arm around her waist as he held her paw with the other, Tera's other paw went straight to Richard's back as they began moving to the music, slowly swaying. They looked into each other's eyes as they moved in perfect rhythm with the music. As Richard looked at Tera, he thought out loud, "I'm the luckiest man alive."

Tera's smile grew as soon as she heard that. "And I'm the luckiest woman alive." She said back to him.

As Richard looked at her beautiful face, he couldn't stop himself from leaning in and giving her a kiss. Tera closed her eyes as she kissed him back and felt his tongue clash with hers, she savored the warmth of Richard's mouth as they got lost in the kiss. They slowly pulled out of the kiss, making a wet smacking sound as they did.

Tera made a little nervous smile as the sound reached her ears. "You're really good at that." Tera commented.

"Good at dancing or good at kissing?" Richard asked with a smile.

"Both." Tera answered as she gave him a quick kiss on his lips before continuing to sway to the music with Richard.

Richard couldn't stop smiling, that's when he realized something, the people in the room weren't staring at them like the last time on this ship. He was glad that they were being treated just like any normal couple, but then that made him think if only Kanto looks down on their relationships, or if there were other regions like that. Richard didn't think about that for too long though as he was soon drawn into another kiss.

Kovick was standing on the deck, looking out to the waves as he held on to the safety rails. He didn't know if it was a good idea to join this mission, but he didn't really have that much of a choice. He was still a soldier, he still followed orders. He didn't want to leave the base, not when he was only just working up the courage to tell his Ninetales assistant how he really feels about her. Kovick didn't know what he was going to do on this ship, he didn't feel like going down to the bar, he didn't have anyone to dance with at the ballroom, and he really didn't feel like going down to the ships restaurant and ordering a lonely meal for one. Kovick just wanted to get off this ship, make sure his new teammates don't die, and get back to base.

1 hour later...

Bruce had found the bar in the ship, he was now sitting on a high stool at the bar, drinking a large glass of beer and looking back over to the stage behind him. On the stage was a drunk man with his drunk Scyther singing some rap song that he had never heard of, that's when he realized that he knew those two. "Heh, fucking lightweight drinkers." Bruce muttered to himself as he drank the beer in his hands. He wondered what the Scyther's slurred words would sound like if he took out his translator, but he decided not to find out. Bruce hated rap songs, he found it hard enough to understand without hearing Reaper shouting, 'Scy scythe scy!'

As Bruce took another gulp of beer, he saw something walking over to him, something pale blue. "Ice queen! Have you come to chill my drinks or just freeze them to my mouth again?" Bruce said to her with a hint of anger.

Kiara jumped up onto the high stool next to him. "How did I know you would be at the bar?" Kiara asked sarcastically.

"Because I'm an alcoholic." Bruce flatly said as he raised the almost empty glass of beer to his lips again.

"The first step is admitting your problem." Kiara said with a smirk.

Bruce shot her an annoyed look as he said, "I don't need your self-help bullshit!"

"Hey, you're not just helping yourself, you're helping the others around you." She professionally said as she imitated the TV advert she saw when she stayed at Ethan's place.

"What? Huh... I swear I've heard that before." Bruce mumbled as he drank the rest of his beer and looked over to the barman. "Another!" Bruce ordered before he looked back over to Kiara.

Kiara had no idea how he kept drinking like that, she had saw people stumble out of this bar after two of those, yet judging from the glasses nearby it looked as though he had double that. "How the hell do you manage to drink all that?" Kiara questioned.

Bruce let out a chuckle and quickly followed that up by cheerfully saying, "Some people are just naturally good at stuff, and I'm naturally good at drinking vast amounts of alcohol that should kill me."

Kiara let out a sigh, she didn't know how he could be so calm in the knowledge that he was killing himself with drink. But she did realize that there were worse problems than drink, like the black vipers and Silas. "Nice to know, well, try not to get into another fight." Kiara said as she jumped off the stool and was just about to leave the room, but didn't once she heard someone calling over to Bruce.

"Bruce? Shit, it really is you, isn't it?" A brown haired man in a red shirt and brown trousers asked as he walked over to him. The man was Bruce's old squad leader, he was now in his forties. The last time Bruce saw him was on the helicopter back from Ashford island after Bruce rescued him and the rest of his squad from the slavers.

Bruce took one look at him and shouted, "Holy fuck! Mick?"

"That's right you lucky bastard! You saved my fucking life back on Ashford." Mick said as he extended his hand.

Bruce shook his hand and said, "Well, I just did what any badass hero would do. Go in alone, rescue my squad's asses and come back and get boozed up!"

"Well, I'm going to save your ass this time Bruce, think of it as a favor returned." Mick said slyly to him.

"What are you talking about?" Bruce quickly questioned with a confused look on his face.

"I'm talking about the vipers on this ship. They are here, they're fucking everywhere, they're like cockroaches, you see one, there's bound to be more. If you want to take them out now, we could both just go for it now." Mick told him before he grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket and said, "I've got their room numbers, I didn't manage to smuggle in any guns so I suggest you pick up something sharp."

Kiara watched from a distance, trying once again to stay hidden as she listened in on their conversation. She couldn't hear much over the sound of the drunken man and Scyther rapping though.

Bruce considered using the beer glass as a weapon, but he guessed he would need something better than glass against vipers. "Lets just find them and kick their fucking teeth in!" Bruce shouted with enthusiasm.

"Come on then." Mick said as he quickly walked towards the exit, with Bruce following closely behind.

Kiara decided to follow them, but tried to remain out of sight. She guessed that something bad was going to happen very soon.

10 minutes later...

Kiara followed Bruce and Mick to a hallway that had lots of doors with numbers on them, she tried to hide behind a potted plant, but it really wasn't big enough to hide behind. She just hoped that they wouldn't look back and see her.

Bruce looked at all the doors they passed, he wondered when they were going to stop and kick one of them down. "Where is th-" Bruce managed to say before Mick turned around and punched Bruce to the side of his face before punching him again in the stomach.

Bruce stumbled back far enough to put some distance between himself and Mick. "You fucking cock sucker!" Bruce shouted out as he held his stomach with one hand. He had no idea why the man he saved suddenly struck him, but he didn't have much time to think about things as he saw Mick pull out a knife and suddenly swing for his neck.

Bruce jumped back as he felt the knife's razor sharp tip scrape the skin on the right side of his neck. He instinctively raised a hand to his neck and then looked at his fingers to check if he was bleeding, and he was, very lightly. Bruce wanted to strike back, but that knife Mick held made things a lot harder. "Why the fuck are you trying to kill me? I fucking saved you!" Bruce furiously shouted at Mick.

"You didn't save me, you fucking ruined everything! You killed my men!" Mick shouted back at him.

"What the fuck are you talking about? I was part of your squad, I got everyone out alive! Bruce yelled.

"You're so fucking thick skulled it's unbelievable." Mick angrily growled before he took a step forward and tried to slash at Bruce's face.

Bruce quickly leaned back before he quickly stepped forward and quickly punched Mick right in his face. "You fucking traitor!" Bruce shouted as he came to a sudden realization. Bruce's squad was ambushed, nobody knew how Silas' men knew they would be taking that route on Ashford island and only a member of their squad or someone higher up could tell Silas' men where they would be. When Bruce rescued his squad, only Mick was left out of his cage. Bruce had thought that they took him out to interrogate him, but he had no bruises, cuts, burns or anything like that. He was the only one left unscathed, and now Bruce knew why. He was working for Silas, and he must have been ordered to assassinate Bruce. It was a smart move on Silas' part, getting someone who Bruce thought was a friend to try and kill him

Kiara wanted to freeze the man Bruce was fighting, but with him so close, it was too dangerous. So she ran as fast as she could and when she was close enough, jumped for his neck.

Mick saw her coming, and raised his forearm in an attempt to defend himself. Kiara bit down into Mick's forearm as he shouted in pain, dropped his knife and tried to bash and shake her off his arm. Kiara felt her hind legs hit the wall with great force right after she felt Mick's fist slam into her stomach, making her yelp in pain and fall to the ground.

Mick's other hand wrapped around his bleeding half frozen forearm as he shouted out in pain. He didn't even notice that Bruce had his knife in his hand. Bruce wasted no time in jamming the blade deep into Mick's chest. "Die you fucking slaving piece of shit!" Bruce yelled as he fell to the ground and landed on top of Mick.

Bruce quickly pulled the blade out of Mick's chest and brought it back down, stabbing Mick's torso four more times before he stood up and walked over to Kiara who was now lying on the floor. "Are you going to follow me everywhere?" Bruce calmly asked as he panted a little.

"Shut up!" Kiara shouted as she tried to block out the pain and stand, but couldn't, her back legs hurt too much.

Bruce could see she was struggling, he didn't like her, but he didn't hate her. "I think you've broken something." Bruce said as he then reached out for her.

"What are you doing?" Kiara quickly demanded to know as Bruce picked her up.

"I'm going to take you on a date..." Kiara's eyes widen in shock at his unexpected comment. "I'm just fucking with you, I'm taking you to see that medic guy." Bruce said as he carried her down the hall.

"And you're just going to leave that dead guy there?" Kiara asked.

"Yeah, why not? He's the cleaner's problem now." Bruce said with a smirk.

"Hey, Bruce." Kaira said.  
"Yes?" Bruce responded.

"Can I at least get a thank you for helping you out?" Kiara asked with a little smirk.

"Depends, do you want me to drop your icy ass?" Bruce sharply replied.

"Ugh, I didn't have to help your sorry ass..." Kiara reminded him as she frowned.

Bruce knew she was right there, but he thought that he could have handled Mick by himself. As Bruce walked for quite some time and looked down to see Kiara still frowning, he felt a little guilty. "Fine, thanks for helping me out... Now stop frowning, it's annoying." Bruce said to her as he walked around the ship, not knowing where the hell he was going.

It wasn't quite the thank you Kiara wanted, but she knew that it was the best she was going to get from Bruce. "Now was that so hard?" Kiara said to Bruce with a smile on her face.

"Don't push your luck ice queen." Bruce snappily replied.

"So, who was that man then?" Kiara asked as she remembered how friendly he acted towards him back at the bar.

"I thought he was a friend, but he was just another lying sack of shit. The fucking traitor almost got everyone in the squad turned into slaves. You know what, next time someone from my past calls out my name at a bar, I'm just going to fucking shoot them in the face." Bruce tiredly replied.

Kiara didn't want to say it, but she thought that was probably a good idea, she also thought that Bruce had no idea where he was going. "Err, do you even know where Kovick is?" Kiara asked.

"Who?" Bruce responded with a confused look on his face.

Kiara sighed, she thought that Bruce must have either been too drunk to remember his name or he just didn't listen to him when Kovick mentioned his name. "Kovick, the medic. Remember?"

"Oh, forgot his name for a second there... Yeah, I have no fucking idea where I'm going." Bruce admitted as he looked around the hallway he was stood in.

Kiara sighed once more. "Straight ahead, first right, second left and up the stairs." Kiara told him.

"Err, right." Bruce said as he began walking up the hallway.

10 minutes later...

Bruce set down Kiara on his bed, after knocking on Kovick's door and getting no response. "How's your legs?" Bruce asked as he began searching through his backpack.

Kiara tried to stand up on the bed, but she couldn't do it, the pain was too much. "They still hurt like hell!" Kiara shouted.

Bruce took out a bottle of whiskey and said, "Here, drink this."

"No thanks." Kiara quickly said to him.

"It'll dull the pain." Bruce tried to convince her.

"Still, no thanks." Kiara replied.

"Fine, more for me." Bruce said before he took a mouth full of whiskey. "Ahh, which one of your legs are hurting?" Bruce asked her.

"Both of my hind legs, I think he banged them against the wall when he tried to shake me off his arm." Kiara told him.

"Mind if I take a look?" Bruce inquired.

"I doubt you can help but go ahead." Kiara said to him.

Bruce then went to take a look at her hind legs, he didn't see anything wrong, but his eyes were drawn to her private parts. 'Dirty Bruce, stop looking before she notices you!' Bruce thought to himself before he said, "Don't see anything wrong, and I guess if something was broken then you would be in a lot more pain."

Kiara knew that it wasn't anything serious, but it still hurt. "Great, I hope I can walk again soon." Kiara mumbled to herself.

"Why? I thought you would like to be carried by me." Bruce said with a smirk.

"You wish!" Kiara shot back.

"I do." Bruce said with a grin. Kiara just stared at him until Bruce laughed. "Ha, I'm just fucking with you ice queen!" Bruce told her as he patted her on the head and walked off into the bathroom to check and see if he had any bruises from the fight. As soon as Bruce looked at himself in the mirror just above the bathroom sink, he noticed the small cut on the right side of his neck. There was also some blood on the collar of his shirt. He knew that he was very lucky, any deeper and he guessed that he would either be bleeding out on the floor right now or dead. He also noticed the red mark on his face from where Mick's knuckles met his cheek, after remembering the punches, Bruce then quickly pulled up his shirt. "Shit, Mick was a prick." Bruce quietly said as he looked at the big red mark on his stomach from where Mick had punched him.

Meanwhile...

Owen was now examining the dead body that he had stumbled upon after hearing a few screams from the passengers. As soon as he looked at the dead man's forearm to find it black and red, frostbitten with two fang shaped marks, he had a good idea as to who did it, although the knife wounds were still a little harder to figure out the culprit for. Owen didn't want this ship to get turned around, but he really didn't feel like hiding a body in ship full of people. He could only think of one reasonable option to stop that from happening. Owen raised his hand to his earpiece and pressed down that little button on its side before saying, "Rhea... I need some help here."

"I thought you would." Rhea's voice replied through the earpiece.

"I'm serious, I've got a dead body here and I think that one or more of the teammates might be the reason it's here. They're probably going to turn back the ship when they find him, I need you to make sure that doesn't happen." Owen quickly said to her.

"Err, it was hard enough to keep counter terrorism teams away from the mall... But I guess I can try... Just don't touch the body." Rhea tiredly ordered him

"I'm not a rookie, I know how to handle dead bodies." Owen said to her.

"Yeah? Well I still remember the first time you tried to hide a body." Rhea told him.

"How was I supposed to know they would look in there?" Owen quickly defended himself.

"Hiding a body during a night time operation in a janitors closet is not a good option when the janitors work at night." Rhea reminded him.

"It's a little too late telling me that now, anyway, I better get out of here before the crew comes to investigate why the passengers are screaming." Owen said as he quickly began walking away from the body.

"I'll contact you if there are any problems." Rhea said before Owen heard the earpiece crackle again, signaling the end of the conversation.

Owen knew what he had to do next, he had to find Kiara and find out why he now has to worry about a dead man.

* * *

**Author's note: Hey! There are two people I wanna thank for editing this, Hironada and BigBossSonic, I decided to give Infinity Warrior a break so he can work on his many stories, I know he has quite a few readers that are probably pissed at him for not continuing his stories for a while. Anyway, hope you awesome people enjoyed reading this chapter!**


	33. Rising tensions

Richard walked down the hallway with Tera, holding her paw in his hand as he led her back to their room. He quickly got the key to the room out of his pocket as he got closer to the door, and then opened it and held it for Tera who walked into the room, and over to the bed. Richard then walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

Tera sat on the bed and watched as Richard walked over to her, and when he was close enough, she grabbed his hand and pulled him on top of her before closing her eyes and giving him a long passionate kiss. Richard closed his eyes and returned the kiss as one hand held the back of her head and the other went to her waist.

They both slowly pulled out of the kiss and looked into each other's eyes. Tera felt something deep inside of her, the desire to mate with the man she loves. "Richard, I love you so much." Tera whispered to him.

"I love you too Tera. I've been waiting so long to get you alone like this." Richard replied with a smile on his face before he went to kissing her neck.

Tera closed her eyes as she lay on the bed and felt Richard's kisses get lower, but they opened their eyes and looked to the door as they heard the sound of someone knocking on it loudly, followed closely by Owen's voice, which asked, "Richard, Tera, are you in there?"

Richard let out a sigh and followed it up with, "Yeah, we're here."  
"Have you seen Kiara anywhere?" Owen asked them from behind the door. Richard then got up off Tera and went over to the door, and opened it; then told him, "No, haven't seen her."

Tera had a concerned look on her face as she asked, "Why? Is there something wrong?"

"I've found a body, and I think she knows how it got there." Owen stated as he looked over to Tera.

Richard really didn't like the sound of this. "Have you asked anyone else about this? Louis? Bruce?" he quickly questioned.

"No, just you two so far. I'm going to check Bruce's room, if he's not there, then I'll check at the bar." Owen informed tiredly, as he begun to walk away.

Richard didn't want to go with Owen, but he knew that he would feel bad if something had happened to his friend and he did nothing about it. "I'll come with you. Are you coming Tera?" Richard asked as he looked back to her.

She frowned, obviously because this ruined their current moment, but then realized that there was no use fighting it. "Of course." Tera answered as she got up and walked over to Richard.

1 minute later...

Owen knocked on Bruce's door. "Bruce, are you in there?" He said just loud enough to be heard from the other side of the door.

"I'm here." Bruce answered as he opened the door to see Richard, Tera and Owen standing there.

Owen quickly noticed Kiara on his bed, as did Richard and Tera. Owen also noticed the red marks on Bruce's face, as well as the small scratch on his neck. "I don't suppose you two would know anything about a dead body lying in one of the ships hallways would you?" Owen sarcastically inquired.

"Oh, so you've met Mick the Prick then?" Bruce asked casually.

Owen gave him a disapproving look before saying, "This is going to cause problems."

"What? You're not even going to ask why he attacked us?" Bruce questioned.

"No, it's clear it has something to do with Silas. It doesn't take much brainpower to work that one out." Owen responded.

Kiara looked over to Richard and Tera who were now walking over to her. "Hey you two, can you help out a crippled Glaceon here and get me painkillers?" Kiara asked.

Tera was the first to respond, "Painkillers? How did you get hurt?

Kiara sighed before stating, "Bruce's old friend that tried to kill him kind of banged my back legs off the wall when he tried to shake me off his arm."

"Are you okay? Can you walk?" Tera quickly asked.

"I'm fine, but I can't stand up or walk properly." Kiara told her with a sad expression on her face.

Bruce looked back over to Tera and said, "We knocked on at that medic guy's room but he wasn't there."

Owen knew that the best course of action would be to round up the remaining teammates. "You all stay here; I'm going to look for the rest." Owen stated as he walked out of the room.

Kiara looked over to Tera and asked, "If I can't walk for a while, can you carry me?"

"Of course I can." Tera told her with a smile on her face.

1 hour later...

Everyone was now in Bruce's room. Owen was standing on the corner of the room after Bruce and Kiara explained everything that led to Mick's death as Kovick tried to find out what sort of injury Kiara had sustained.  
Richard and Tera were sitting on the bed with Kovick and Kiara, Bruce was on the bed with a bottle of vodka in his hand, lying down on it and drinking as if he was the only person in the room. Reaper and Louis were sitting on the floor, babbling at each other.

Bruce took one look at the drunken young man and Scyther and muttered, "Fucking lightweight drinkers."

Kovick got up off the bed and looked to Kiara. "Right, it's nothing serious although I would suggest that you shouldn't strain your back legs too much. When we get to Unova, I'll check if there is anything anyone sells there that can help speed up the healing process." Kovick professionally said.

"Thanks." Kiara replied.

Bruce looked around to everyone and thought out loud, "Well, when the fuck is this ship getting to Unova anyway?"

Just as Bruce said that, Owen looked down to his watch. "We should be there in just a few more hours. We should wait here for the time being, if there are more of Silas' men around, they won't attack us all head on." Owen responded.

Bruce silently shook his head. 'Great, looks like my plans for actually getting some sleep after jacking off just flew out of the fucking window.' Bruce thought to himself as he drank a little more vodka.

Richard looked over to Tera, he just wanted to spend the night with her, and now they were stuck in this room. Richard daydreamed of what they could have been doing together if they hadn't been interrupted by Owen.  
Richard was soon drawn out of his daydreams when he felt Tera kissing his cheek. He looked back into her eyes and smiled as he saw her pretty face. "When we are alone, we'll continue from where we left off back in our room." Richard whispered to her.

Tera smiled in response and gave him a short kiss on his lips. "You promise?" Tera asked as she shuffled a little closer to Richard.

"I promise." Richard responded with a big grin on his face.

Kovick had noticed how affectionate Richard and Tera were towards each other, which reminded him of the talk that he was planning to have with them. But that would have to wait for now, he didn't really feel like giving those two some advice in front of an audience.

5 hours later...

"Come on, drive agent guy!" Bruce called out from his seat in the back of the big bulky car. His sheathed machete strapped to his back and his combat shotgun was now in his hands. After all the fights he's gotten himself into, he guessed that he should keep his weapons with him at all times now.

"That's what I'm doing." Owen tiredly replied. It was now sometime in the night, this area of Unova was a cold place so the roads were a little slippery and dangerous.

"You call THIS driving! Fucks sake man, grow some balls and put your fucking foot down on the accelerator!" Bruce shouted at him.

Kiara gave him a disapproving look before saying, "Accelerator is a big word for you Bruce. He's doing his best at least and unlike one person I could mention, isn't drunk off his ass and annoying as hell!"  
Bruce smiled at the little pissed off look she was now giving him. "Don't forget that certain someone carried your frozen ass after you got injured, you still haven't thanked me for that by the way." Bruce spat with a smirk.

"And the day I thank you is the day you stop being an ass." Kiara told him.

"So you're going to thank me at my funeral?" Bruce chuckled.

"Ha! You think I'm coming to your funeral?" Kiara teased.

"Hey! I would come to yours... Even if it would be just to grab some free booze and piss on your grave afterward." Bruce insulted with a smirk on his face.

Kiara feigned a hurt look on her face as she said, "I would never do something like that to you."

"Yes you would!" Bruce accused.

"Okay I would, but I would at least try to look sad at yours!" Kiara stated.

"And I would try to look sad as I piss on your grave." Bruce replied as his smirk grew into a grin.

"I would probably be sad if I was a man and had your little thingy too." Kiara snappily spat.

"Oh, that was a low blow ice bitch, and I assure you it ISN'T little." Bruce responded with a middle finger to Kiara.

Everyone in the car ignored Bruce and Kiara arguing with each other, everyone except Kovick. He wasn't sure if they were messing around or if they really did hate each other.  
He thought about stepping in, the last thing that he wanted was another injured person on the team, but he just let them argue. He figured that whatever went on between them should stay between them.

"Maybe." Kiara simply replied as she looked out of the window to see the snow covered trees that they were now driving past. "I think I'm going to like it here." Kiara told herself with a smile.

"Then by all means stay, then I won't have to listen to your icy ass nagging at me all fucking day." Bruce mumbled as he lay back in his seat and closed his eyes.

Kiara looked back at him and asked, "Oh, passing out already?"

"I'm not passing out, I'm getting some fucking sleep because I didn't fucking get any on that boat." Bruce angrily stated, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Well maybe you should have spent less time at the bar and more time in your room." Kiara sternly said to him.

"Well shit, now you sound just like my sister." Bruce responded.

"She's obviously smarter than you." Kiara snappily insulted him, attempting to get some sort of a reaction out of him.

"Now you sound like those nosy bastard neighbors back at Vermillion... Poor nosy bastards." Bruce laughed as he tried to stop a smile from coming to his face when he saw their houses burning down. 'Loud music and swear words were the least of their problems then.' Bruce thought to himself.

Kiara sighed and said, "You're hopeless."

"Only just realize that now did you?" Bruce asked with a smirk, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Just shut it drunkard." Kiara snapped back at him. Bruce opened his eyes, only to savor the pissed off look on her face.  
Oh how he loved that look.

1 hour later...

Owen was now at a gas station, at the pumps. He had received the location of his next recruit from Rhea. Kovick, Louis and Reaper were buying some snacks and drinks from the gas station, as were Richard, Tera and Kiara.

Kovick picked up an energy drink when he heard Louis' voice. "Hey, Kovick is it?"

Kovick turned around and said, "Yep, that's my name."

"I've only just noticed something, your eyes; they have a sort of a red tint to them, how's that?" Louis curiously questioned.

Kovick wasn't surprised he asked that, a lot of people asked him that same question. "Oh, it's a genetic trait from my father." Kovick stated as he awaited the usual next question.

"So, your father had red eyes?" Louis asked.

"Well he's a Gallade so yes." Kovick answered.

Louis was a little shocked, he wasn't aware that a Gallade could be the genetic father of a human. It wasn't common knowledge to many people from Kanto that Pokémon could breed with humans, and successfully produce children. "A Gallade? But your mother was a human right?" Louis asked.

"Right... Where do you come from?" Kovick asked.

"Kanto." Louis answered.

Kovick hated Kanto, he remembered his parents telling him of how humans and Pokémon who love each other were kept apart by the law, separated forever, and when they were released, they were always watched.  
When he was younger, he hated Kanto because if they lived there, he may have been taken away from his parents, now he was older, he still hated Kanto, but for a new reason. His Ninetales assistant.  
If they had both served for Kanto, the choice to tell her how he really felt about her would be a dangerous one for both of them. He was just glad that they were both serving for Johto. Kovick had heard of some people being killed by others just because they weren't what they called 'pure', they killed those whose fathers were Pokémon.  
They were extremists, and they were allowed to grow. Kovick didn't understand how they could call themselves pure when they kill innocent people, just because of how they were born.  
In Kovick's eyes, those people lost their humanity when they decided to take up killing harmless innocent people, they weren't pure, they were evil. Kovick hoped that Louis wasn't like those people. "Are you surprised my father is a Gallade?" Kovick asked.

"Well, yeah, a little... I just don't really understand why your mother would want to... You know." Louis said as he tried to say something without actually saying it.

That wasn't really what Kovick wanted to hear, and he was going to make it clear that he wasn't happy. "You can't understand what? You can't understand that how my mother and father can love each other? Or you can't understand why they would want me?" Kovick angrily questioned.

Louis could clearly see Kovick was pissed, but he didn't see why he should have to suppress his opinions. "Yeah, I don't understand. I mean can your father even talk?" Louis asked.  
Reaper felt like cringing at this conversation, he felt like jumping in, but he didn't he just watched. He felt like it was just between Louis and the medic guy.

Kovick was now beginning to hate this man in front of him. "Yes, he can actually. Can I ask you a question Louis?" Kovick asked, trying to sound as calm as possible, and failing.

"Go ahead." Louis told him.

"Do you have a problem with how I was born?" Kovick angrily inquired, now no longer bothering to sound calm.

"What? No, it's just that I don't understand why humans and Pokémon would want to mate with each other!" Louis said back to him, raising his voice.

Louis' comment got the attention of Richard, Tera and Kiara who all looked back to see the two men staring at each other as if they were getting ready to fight each other.

Kovick wasn't about to let this go. "You don't understand? It's what people do when they love each other!" Kovick shouted at him.

"But it's just not fucking right! That's like bestiality, you don't go around fucking dogs do you!" Louis angrily shouted back at him.

'Bestiality? Is that what he sees it as?' Kovick angrily thought to himself. "It's not the same thing! Pokémon can consent, animals cannot. Most Pokémon are just as smart as the average human, some are even smarter, so do not tell me it is the same thing!" Kovick yelled back at him.

"Your parents aren't even the same species!" Louis shouted at him.

Richard felt like taking Kovick's side right now, he felt like punching Louis in the mouth, he was beginning to remind him of that snobby waiter back on the ship who made his dislike for both Richard and Tera very clear.

Kovick didn't want to listen to another word this man had to say, but he was determined to have the last word. "Well let me tell you, I'm in love with a Ninetales, her name is Aneko, and yes, I do want to be with her. What do you think of me now? Do you think I am sick?" Kovick questioned him with hate in his voice.

"A Ninetales? Does she not remind you of a dog?" Louis questioned.

Richard's mind jumped back to when he first met his father, he remembered his father calling Tera a dog, that's what then triggered something in his brain, something that told him to punch him right in his face.

Everybody could see Kovick lean in a little, with his fist clenched and a look on his face that said he wanted the man in front of him dead. It looked like he was about to go for Louis, but he didn't. He just leaned in and said with a deep tone in his voice, "Don't you ever fucking talk to me again."

Kovick dropped the energy drink he previously held and stormed right out of the gas station, back to the car.

Louis watched Kovick walked out of the door, when he left, he then noticed Richard staring at him. "What?" Louis questioned to Richard.

"My father called Tera a dog too; I punched him in the face, then knocked him out for saying that. You got off lightly." Richard replied as he turned his back to him and walked over to the till to pay for the snacks he and Tera were carrying.

Louis looked back over to Reaper, but they didn't say anything to each other, they just looked around for the stuff they needed, and got ready to leave.

Meanwhile...

Bruce stepped out of the gas station toilets and breathed in some fresh air. "Fuck, I don't think I've appreciated air without the scent of shit and piss this much before." Bruce thought out loud as he walked back over to the car, he left his shotgun and machete in the car.  
He guessed that if whoever works at the gas station saw him walking towards it with his combat shotgun and machete strapped to his back then he'd likely end up surrounded by cops. He walked up to the car and opened up one of its doors and climbed into the back and sat on his usual seat.  
Bruce noticed something, Owen and Kovick were the only ones in the car, not only that, but Kovick looked pissed about something. "What's got you so pissed? Someone switch your morphine with caffeine or something?" Bruce asked with a smirk on his face as he searched around his backpack for his next drink.

Kovick just looked to Bruce and angrily said, "Louis and I just disagree on some matters..."

"Oh, what matters?" Bruce asked as he took out a bottle of vodka and leaned in, eager to hear about what got him so pissed.

"He thinks that being with a Pokémon is basically the same thing as bestiality." Kovick stated as the hate in his voice rose.

Bruce looked confused and inquired, "So, that got you pissed?"

"My father is a Gallade, I'm in love with a Ninetales, and he asked me if she reminded me of a dog, so yes, it got me pissed." Kovick almost shouted.

"If you're that pissed, then maybe you should have punched him, release your anger on his face." Bruce told him as he opened his bottle of vodka and tried to get the man in front of him more pissed than he already was.

Kovick had wanted to do that, but he knew that would not go down well for either of them. "No, it's not worth it..."

"Not worth it? Sounds like pussy for _I don't want to_." Bruce imitated the last part with a fake high pitched voice before taking a mouthful of vodka.

"Fighting isn't always the answer... You should stop drinking so much, that stuff will kill you." Kovick told Bruce.

"And the slavers that are coming to kill us all won't?" Bruce reminded as he took another swig of his vodka.

"Good point." Kovick said, not bothered about Bruce's drinking problem right now, too busy thinking of how much he hated that man, Louis.

* * *

**Author's Note: There are quite a few people I want to thank on this chapter, hironada, BigBossSonic and Infinity Warrior all added to and edited this chapter! And I wanna thank you guys for reading again! Anyway, off to work on the next chapter!**


	34. Caught red handed

1 hour later...

Everybody was now in the car, sitting silently. The hatred from Kovick, now held for Louis was clear to everyone; the angry look on his face didn't just fade away, Louis' words kept on replaying in his head, just feeding his hate for him. Kovick wasn't the only one that hated Louis, Richard and Tera both disliked him right now.  
Tera didn't mind that Louis didn't understand why she would be attracted to Richard, but she did not like the way he shouted at Kovick. Richard, on the other hand, wanted to do the same thing that he performed on his father to him. After all, he had indirectly insulted his fiancée.

Louis could feel the pure hatred that radiated from Kovick, Tera and Richard hadn't given him any warm feelings, and for some reason, he felt like Bruce and Kiara held some hate for him too. Even Reaper hadn't said a word to him since his outburst back at the gas station.

Bruce glanced over to Kiara who was now looking out of the window. Bruce couldn't stop thinking of dirty things around her, not since he looked between her hind legs back on that cruise ship. Nearly every time he thought back to that moment, he felt his erection growing inside his pants, unfortunately for him, it was happening again.  
'Fucking hell, not again.' Bruce thought to himself as he tried to hide it by resting his combat shotgun over his crotch. 'Ha, I'm a genius.' Bruce thought to himself.

After a while of driving, the car finally came to a stop in Icirrus City. Owen had been informed that the next recruit was somewhere in Unova, but his exact location was still unknown. Owen decided that if he was going to wait around, then he might as well get supplies for the next time they setup camp.

Bruce took one look out of the window to see that there was still snow everywhere. "Great, I get to freeze my balls off." Bruce mumbled to himself pessimistically.

Kiara looked back to Bruce. "Don't be such a baby." She snapped at him as Richard opened the car door for her. Kiara tried to walk out but when she did, she felt a sudden sharp pain shooting through one of her hind legs, causing her to hiss in pain.

Bruce walked out of the car ahead of her and looked back. "Don't be such a baby!" He stated with a chuckle before he started to hug himself and say, "Fuck me! It's fucking freezing!" Bruce exclaimed.

Kiara was picked up and carried out of the car by Tera as she giggled at Bruce. "What's wrong Bruce? Is the alcohol in your system freezing over?" Kiara asked with a smirk on her face.

Bruce glared at her. "Go fuck yourself." Bruce mumbled.

Kiara smiled as she shot back, "Right back at you."

Bruce wasn't about to let her win one of their little insulting matches. "I swear ice queen, if we weren't on the same team, I would have stuck my shotgun up your ass a long time ago." Bruce angrily said to her.

A devious smirk came to Kiara's face as she said, "I had a feeling you wanted to stick something up there."

Bruce smirked and blushed slightly. "You wish you could sit on my gun." Bruce snappily replied as he began walking towards the nearest shop.

Kiara thought she saw a reddish tint to his cheeks, but she wasn't sure if that was him blushing, or something caused by the cold conditions. Could just be her imagination as well.

Richard stood beside Tera who was now shivering with Kiara in her arms; he knew she didn't handle the cold so well. "Come on; let's get inside the shop before you catch a cold." Richard told Tera. She looked beside her and smiled before walking into the shop with Kiara in her arms and Richard by her side.

Kovick quickly got out of the car, he felt cold but his heated anger for Louis warmed him a little. He walked into the nearest shop, as he guessed that's where the rest of the team would be heading anyway if they were getting supplies.

Louis and Reaper climbed out of the car shortly after. They both walked into the shop, quietly. They didn't talk or even look at each other.

Owen stayed in the car, after all, if he didn't watch it, who would?

Midnight...

Nearly everyone was asleep in their tents, apart from Bruce, Kiara and Kovick.

Kovick was now sitting down somewhere in the forest, just resting against a tree, trying to get warm by zipping up his military jacket and putting his hands into the pockets of his trousers. He couldn't get to sleep, the cold stopped him from doing that, and his hate for Louis kept him awake for as long as possible.  
Louis wasn't the only team member he was thinking about; there was also Richard, Tera and Bruce. Kovick had been meaning to give the two lovers a little talk, if they were sexually active during the mission, and Richard didn't know it was possible for him to get Tera pregnant, it may cause some complications.  
Kovick was also thinking about Bruce because that he drank so much, yet looked and seemed to function like a perfectly normal person, although the constant swearing and the occasional stumbling and violent behavior was far from normal.  
His mind began to wind further than an addiction, almost like his body was some sort of an anomaly that ran off of alcohol, and the swearing may have been caused by a post-traumatic stress disorder.  
Anything could have happened.

Bruce was sitting by the campfire, but even that wasn't warming him up, most of the ground was covered in snow, it was a miracle that they even managed to get a campfire going. He looked over to the other side of the campfire to see Kiara trying to get to sleep; he then looked down to see the small flames of the campfire, nowhere near enough to keep him warm.  
Just then, a devious smirk crossed Bruce's face as he took out the perfect drink for the job, Absinthe. Boredom, fires, and flammable fluids seemed to go together quite nicely in Bruce's mind.

Kiara was still trying to get to sleep, when all of a sudden she felt a big heat wave on her face and body. She quickly opened her eyes to see large flames before she jumped back and saw the flames suddenly die down, and Bruce laughing hard at her, with a bottle in his hands.

Bruce laughed at her shocked face and managed to say, "You should have seen your fucking face!"

Kiara suddenly realized what was going on, and she became angry very quickly. "You son of a bitch!" She shouted out before she dived on top of him, ignoring the pain in her legs and giving Bruce a solid head-butt. Bruce grunted slightly in pain before he looked to see her on top of him, he quickly responded by head-butting her.

Kiara just hissed in pain a little as she snarled and stared down to the human she was now on top of. She was really tempted to bite down into his neck.

Bruce just smirked as he shouted, "Come on! Your fucking move ice bitch!"  
They both stared at each other with threatening looks, until they both saw someone out of the corner of their eyes. They both looked to Kovick who was now looking at the two.

Kovick saw Kiara on top of Bruce, on his waist with her face close to Bruce's. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Err; I'll just leave you two alone." Kovick awkwardly told himself as he walked away from the two and back into the forest.

Bruce and Kiara looked back to each other as they quickly realized what he thought they were doing. Bruce saw Kiara beginning to blush slightly as they both stared into each other's green eyes. Bruce hadn't noticed before how bright her eyes were. He felt strange as they continued to stare at each other, he knew what was happening to him, and he was getting horny.

Kiara stared down into Bruce's dark green eyes; she could feel her cheeks becoming warmer as she blushed harder.  
'I have to get off him... Even though I do find him annoyingly attractive.' She thought to herself as she said, "Err... Consider the head-butt a warning." Kiara told him as she began to get off his body.

Bruce smirked as he asked, "What, no kiss?"

Kiara growled back and yelled, "Shut up!" as she began to walk through the trees, out of Bruce's sight. It was now clear to her, she was attracted to Bruce. "Ugh, I hate my feelings." She quietly whispered to herself as she walked past some more snow covered trees.

Bruce sighed, and now looked to the tent he was pitching in his trousers. "Fuck... It's not enough that I'm freezing to death but now I've just got fucking head-butted. And to top it all off, I have a boner." He quietly and angrily said to himself. He then began thinking, he was cold, and he knew one thing that always warmed him up.  
'Fuck it, I'm jacking off.' He thought to himself before he stood up and began walking into the forest.

After a while of walking and looking around for a spot that wasn't covered in snow, Bruce sat down against a tree, unzipped his pants and took out his erection, he knew that someone might hear him but at this point, he really didn't care.  
He felt like he had to take care of this problem now. Bruce still remembered when he took a look between Kiara's legs back on the cruise ship, he imagined himself and Kiara together, and he imagined himself pumping into her as he wrapped one hand around his erection and slowly pumped it.  
His strokes got harder and faster as he imagined himself pumping deep into Kiara, making her scream with pleasure. "Kiara… If you weren't such a bitch, i'd fuck you so hard…" he said aloud. Bruce could feel himself getting closer as he began breathing in deeply, but then he heard something, Kiara's voice.

"What the..." Kiara said as she stood there, wide eyed.

"SHIT!" Bruce quickly shouted out as he stood up and attempted to pull his pants up with one hand while trying to hide his erection with the other, but only succeeded in falling over to the side as he tried to do so.

Kiara was blushing hard. She didn't know what to do or say, but she just had to say something after seeing that. "I-I... What the hell?" Kiara managed to say as she watched Bruce do up his trousers.

"Fuck... Err... I'm a guy! I have needs." Bruce quickly responded as he tried to hide the tent he was pitching in his pants.

Kiara was blushing brighter and brighter. "I... I-I-I'm just going to go now." She stuttered before quickly walking away.

Bruce watched her walk away before sitting back down on the ground, he had seen her blushing, that made him wonder if she felt something for him. He didn't really want to find out now however, not after she just saw him jacking off. He let out a long sigh; he began wondering what she would say to the others.

Kiara sat down on a fallen tree in the forest, still shocked by what she just seen. She couldn't stop thinking about it; she couldn't help but think, 'Did... Bruce say my name when he was doing that?' She thought to herself as she remembered not so long ago, when he was staring into her eyes.  
Kiara had thought that he had feelings for her, and she had feelings for him, but she wondered if those feelings went beyond just sexual desires.

The next morning...

Louis was sitting with Reaper by the fire. They still hadn't talked to each other since the incident at the gas station. Louis just had to ask him something. "Reaper, do you think I was wrong?" Louis asked.

Reaper looked back to him. "Kid, there is no right or wrong opinion. Although in my opinion, I think you overreacted." Reaper replied.

"Maybe." Louis replied.

"Maybe? When you said that your kind having sex with Pokémon is like bestiality, imagine how that comment could be seen by other Pokémon. We don't like being called or seen as animals." Reaper told him.

"Is that why you haven't been speaking to me?" Louis inquired.

"Yes actually. Why are you so against Pokémon and human relationships?" Reaper questioned.

"I just think it's just... Wrong." Louis replied, kicking up some slowly melting snow and dirt.

Just then, Reaper looked over to Richard and Tera. "Do you think that them being together is wrong?" Reaper asked.

"Sort of. I guess I just really don't understand the attraction." Louis responded.

"Louis, I'm your best friend. You've told me stuff that you haven't told another human. If you can understand friendship with a Pokémon, why can't you understand why a human and a Pokémon would love each other?" Reaper asked, curious to know the answer.

"I'm sorry Reaper, but I'll never understand. I just don't think that a human having sex with a Pokémon is politically correct!" Louis quickly threw back to him.

Reaper had a feeling that Louis just refused to understand. "That's fine, but you've got to understand why Kovick was so annoyed at you. It sounded like you were saying that his father was an animal and his mother was into bestiality." Reaper stated.

"I know. I said some shitty stuff back there." Louis admitted with a sigh.

Richard now walked over to Owen and asked, "Where are we heading to now?"

Owen looked back to him. "We're on standby. I still haven't been told where our next recruit is." Owen told him as he sighed lightly.

Richard now had a confused expression on his face. "So, we wait here until you're informed of his location then?" Richard questioned.

"Yes, it's the best option, in my opinion anyway." Owen stated.

Richard liked the sound of staying in one place for once, although he knew it wasn't exactly the safest plan. "I agree, but you do realize that staying in one place might attract attention, right?" Richard asked.

Owen nodded. "Yes, I do, but I doubt that the vipers would manage to find us in this forest." Owen replied.

"Great, let's hope the vipers don't like the cold." Richard said pessimistically.

Kiara was now in camp, and walking over to Tera. "Guess what I saw last night." Kiara said.

Tera gave a look that looked like she was raising an eyebrow. "What?" Tera replied.

"Bruce, with his pants down, literally." Kiara said with a smirk.

Tera had a surprised look on her face as she quickly asked, "What was he doing?"

"Masturbating." Kiara quickly replied.

That surprised look now grew on Tera's face. "Did he see you?" Tera quickly inquired.

"Yeah, you should have seen the look in his face when he saw me! He was in such a hurry to pull up his pants that he fell over to his side." Kiara said with a smile.

Tera giggled a little before asking, "What did he say when you caught him?"

"He said that he has needs." Kiara responded with a smirk. Just then, she saw Bruce walking past and sitting down near the fire. She noticed him glance over to her before quickly looking away. "Hmm, I bet he was thinking of me too." Kiara added.

Tera now had a very confused expression on her face. "Why do you say that?" She curiously asked.

Kiara just looked back to her and replied, "It's just a feeling."

Kovick now walked over to Bruce and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry about interrupting you two last night; I didn't know you two are..."

Bruce quickly decided to stop him right there. "We're not! We just got into a fight and the bitch landed on top of me!" Bruce quickly yelled at him.

Bruce's yelling also got the attention of everyone else in camp; with the exception of Owen who was no longer around camp.

Kovick wasn't expecting that to be his response. "Sorry, I just saw you two and thought... Never mind." Kovick awkwardly responded as he stood up and began to walk away.

Bruce stayed by the fire, and made very little eye contact with Kiara after that. He didn't want to sound, or be made fun of like a pussy either.

Owen was standing in the middle of the forest; he didn't want the rest of the team to hear the conversation he was now having with Rhea. "What's the bad news then?" Owen asked.

"The bad news is that Silas has now sent Asher after you and your team." Rhea's voice told him through the earpiece.

"Asher... Shit." Owen quietly responded.

"That was everyone's reaction back here; everyone wishes the best to you and your team." Rhea told him.

"Tell them to stop wishing and find the location of our next recruit before Asher finds us." Owen responded very sternly.

"We're trying our best, but this man is very hard to find." Rhea informed him.

"Our corpses will be hard to find if they don't hurry up and find the recruit." Owen angrily said.

"I understand how important it is, but you have to stay calm." Rhea replied.

Owen knew she was right, but now he had Asher on his back, it felt like he had a hundred more problems to deal with. "I know, but staying calm is going to be the last thing on our minds with Asher breathing down our necks." Owen responded.

"We know. Good luck in your mission Owen." Rhea finalized before a crackle sounded through the earpiece.

Owen sighed before walking back to camp; he now had a lot to think about. One main question arose to him. "Should I tell them?" He asked himself.

* * *

**Author's notes: Wanna thank Hironada and Infinity Warrior for editing, adding parts to it and giving out suggestions. I also wanna thank BigBossSonic for reading through this and checking for mistakes, and also gonna thank pokeflare for suggesting something that I then decided to add into the story. Wow, four people I've thanked on this chapter, wonder if I can top that. Oh, and thank you to all the awesome readers out there! :D**


	35. Drink

A few minutes passed and it was still early in the morning. Bruce was seated by the burnt out campfire, drinking his vodka. Bruce raised the bottle to his lips and then put it back down on the ground again, before looking to his side and jumping slightly when he saw Kiara there.

"Shit! You're like a fucking ninja." Bruce stated.

Kiara laughed a little before saying, "And you're like a drunken ass, good to see you with your pants on by the way."

"I would have thought you'd love to see me with my pants down by the look on your face." Bruce retorted with a smirk.

"What you mean by that!" Kiara quickly questioned.

"I mean I saw you blushing ice queen... I didn't even think that was possible, you know, because you're cold and... Shit." Bruce mumbled the last part as he raised his bottle of vodka to his lips.

Kiara growled slightly. "I was not blushing. It's impossible for me to blush!" She lied.

Bruce took a big gulp of vodka before he shouted, "I call bullshit!"

"I think I know my body better than a drunk, annoying human." Kiara angrily replied.

"I thought you were about to add handsome to that list of great features, don't forget badass too." Bruce responded as he smirked.

"I hate you." Kiara growled.

"Right back at you ratty. So, you see anything you like last night?" Bruce asked deviously.

"Don't make me freeze your dick off." Kiara retorted.

Bruce then began to grin. "Oh, see where your mind went." He said, just to piss her off.

Kiara was trying not to loose her cool with him; as she remembered what happened last night when she lost it with him. "You make everything dirty; your mind is like a sewer, dirty and full of shit." Kiara shot back.

"I bet you have some dirty little things in that pretty little head of yours." Bruce smirked, before realizing his mistake and instantly thinking, 'Wait, pretty? Fucking shit! I need to get these fucking thoughts out of my head!'

Kiara returned the smirk as she questioned, "Pretty? Oh, so you must have been thinking of me last night then."

Bruce had a surprised look on his face before saying, "No I fucking wasn't!"

Kiara now saw her chance to really get under Bruce's skin. "Oh, then I must have just imagined you calling out my name last night." Kiara deviously responded.

When Bruce heard those words, only one word came to his mind. 'Fuck!' The shock showed on his face a little too clearly, but he tried his best just to shrug it off. "You need to get your fucking ears tested or something because I called no fuckers name out last night!" Bruce angrily shouted.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, maybe you'll convince yourself." Kiara said back to him.

Bruce glared at her, he felt like shouting out, 'Fuck you.' But he knew that she could easily twist those words. "Keep fantasizing ice queen." Bruce replied before grabbing his bottle of vodka and raised it to his lips, taking a mouth full.

Kiara was tempted to freeze that bottle to his lips again, but she decided against it, Bruce's shotgun was a little too close to him for her to even consider it. "Keep fantasizing? Says the guy I caught with his pants down and touching himself." Kiara snappily responded.

Bruce put his vodka bottle back down on the ground before saying with a smirk, "I bet you'd want to catch me doing that again."

"In your drunken dreams!" Kiara snapped back at him.

Bruce laughed a little. "Oh, and do you stare into people's eyes often after you headbutt them?" Bruce asked as he grinned.

"I could ask you the same thing." Kiara asked with a little smile on her face.

Bruce couldn't help but look into her bright green eyes for a second before looking back down to the ground. "Whatever ice queen, by the way, your headbutt was fucking weak! I barely felt it!" Bruce exclaimed.

"Well, you are thick-skulled." Kiara quickly retorted.

"I'm not fucking thick-skulled you little devious sneaky blue rat shit!" Bruce started to yell.

"You stupid drunken ass!" Kiara shouted back.

Bruce knew if it was anyone else saying these things to him, he would have picked up his vodka bottle and smashed it over their head a long time ago. It made Bruce wonder how he had stayed calm with her after all this time, maybe it was because that he enjoyed her getting so pissed off with him, but Bruce really knew it was something else. "I swear you little fucker, I will kick your ass so hard it'll shatter your fucking bones!" Bruce shouted back.

"You can try idiot, but I'll just freeze that leg and rip it off!" Kiara yelled back with what looked to be a smirk on her face.

Bruce chuckled a little before saying, "You can try bitch, but my fist and your face will meet much fucking faster than you can fucking freeze anything."

"Want a bet?" Kiara calmly said to him.

"It's not a fucking bet when I know I have no chance of losing." Bruce replied.

"Oh, but you do." Kiara said back to him.

Bruce leaned in a little closer to Kiara before saying, "No I fucking don't."

Kiara smiled as she said, "You're leaning in a little close Bruce, and I hope you're not expecting a kiss."

A grin now began to show on Bruce's face. "No, I'm fucking not... Although I bet you're aching for one from me." Bruce replied.

Kiara's cheeks now had a slightly pinkish tint to them, she was blushing, but she didn't want to let Bruce see that. She faced away from him as she said, "I've got better things to do than to be talking to a drunken jackass."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're very busy out in this forest with only a few people in it." Bruce said sarcastically before picking up his bottle of vodka, and watching Kiara walk away. Bruce couldn't keep his eyes off her behind, he wanted another look at what he saw back on that cruise ship, but her tail stopped that from happening.

'And now I'm turning into a fucking pervert, that's just fucking great.' Bruce thought to himself before he began drinking what was left in the vodka bottle.

Kovick looked over to Bruce and sighed as he thought, 'That man is a medical mystery, he seems pretty sober for a man that practically lives off alcohol. He must have the liver of a Machamp or something.'

He then looked over to Richard and Tera talking to each other, which reminded him of the talk he had been meaning to have with them. Kovick walked up to the couple and said, "Err, I need to ask you two something. And I know what I may ask may be a little personal, but its' best if I check."

Richard looked to him and replied, "Ask away Kovick."

"Okay then, you two both know that my father is a Gallade, but do you both realize that it is possible for a human male to impregnate a female Lucario?" Kovick asked.

Richard and Tera both looked at each other. When Richard read through Kovick's dossier, and found his father was a Gallade, it did make him think if it was possible to have children with Tera.

Richard didn't know if it was possible, he wasn't taught much back at the orphanage he grew up in yet he had heard stuff. Now it seemed that stuff was true after all. "Err, well, now I do." Richard answered.

Tera didn't know if it was possible, she had never asked, and before she met Richard, heard nothing of Pokemon and human relationships. It came as a surprise to Tera to hear that she could become pregnant with Richard's child, but not an unpleasant surprise.

"I... Didn't know that." she responded.

Kovick looked at them both, he was glad he had told them now. "And for the most awkward question that I have ever asked in my life. Have you recently or ever participated in any… Intercourse lately?" He told them.

Richard and Tera looked at each other, blushing, and then turned to him, and she told him, "Well… Not recently. But we have before this mission began…" Richard nodded, to confirm her, before saying, "Thanks for telling us Kovick."

Kovick knew that the two probably had a lot to talk about. "Anytime, it's my job." Kovick stated before walking away from the couple.

Richard looked to Tera, he felt like he should have known that he could get her pregnant, for her sake. "Err, I'm sorry I didn't know." Richard informed her nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

Tera smiled before saying, "It's fine, I didn't know either... But I wouldn't have minded if we had... Well..."

Richard knew what she was trying to say, and he was glad that she felt the same way. "After this mission is finished... Do you think we should consider..." Before Richard could finish, Tera pulled him into a hug.

"Children?" Tera asked as she looked into Richard's eyes.

Richard smiled as he stroked her back. "Yeah, children." Richard responded as he looked back into her big crimson eyes.

Tera kissed Richard's lips before looking into his eyes again. "I think we definitely should." she replied with a big smile on her face.

Richard had a big grin on his face now, as he stroked the back of Tera's head and looked into her eyes. "I love you Tera." Richard whispered to her as he kissed her softly.

Tera kissed Richard deeply, but she managed to pull out of the kiss long enough to say, "I love you too, Richard."

Bruce looked over his shoulder to see Richard and Tera, kissing again, he imagined himself and Kiara doing the same, and chuckled at the thought before looking away from the couple and staring at the burnt out campfire.

He couldn't stop thinking of Kiara, he felt like kicking himself for liking her, but he found nearly everything about her so cute, her walk, her glare, the face she makes when she gets pissed off, even her snappy comments about him.

The drunkard didn't know if he liked her more than he hated her, all he knew was that he found her attractive and he was beginning to have a lot of really dirty thoughts of him and her together.

Kiara was out in the woods, sitting on the same fallen tree she had sat on last night. She had a lot on her mind, a lot that she couldn't get out of her mind. She kept thinking back to when she caught Bruce with his pants down, she couldn't stop thinking about his length.

When she saw him like that, she felt a sudden urge, and she hated herself for it but she knew, she wanted to mate with Bruce. Kiara couldn't stop thinking about when he called out her name; it made her wonder what exactly he was imagining as he pleased himself.

Kiara shook her head a little as she tried to get her own dirty thoughts out of her head. "Stupid sexy Bruce." Kiara mumbled to herself.

Owen now sat on the bonnet of his car; he didn't feel like telling everyone about the extremely dangerous man that has been sent after them just yet, not when things seemed calm. He guessed his team deserved at least one day of rest before they were once again fighting for their lives.

Reaper and Louis now stood by their tent, talking. Reaper had been talking to Louis for a long time now, telling him what he thought of Pokemon and human relationships.

"I don't see much difference between human and Pokemon relationships. Both can consent, and both can think for themselves. I can understand why Kovick was so pissed, you've got those human extremist groups back in Kanto, and he might have even thought you were part of them." Reaper told him.

Louis looked slightly angry by the comment. "I am not part of those insane bastards. Although I don't feel its right for Pokemon and humans to be together in that way, I wouldn't hurt them for doing so." Louis replied.

"But your government does, they separate those couples and families and say it's for their own good. In my opinion kid, I think your government is fucked up." Reaper stated.

Louis couldn't really argue with that, even he thought that was wrong. "I wouldn't split up families over it either; sometimes the government can be real dicks." Louis responded.

"Kanto is still a nice place, although if I had the choice, I'd move away." Reaper said to Louis.

Midnight.

Owen was now asleep in his car. Richard and Tera were now inside their tent, whispering how much they loved each other, and talking about the future. Louis and Reaper were in their tents, trying to get some sleep. Kovick was in his own tent, trying to sleep, but couldn't, the sound of Bruce's and Kiara's argue kept him awake.

Bruce was sitting on the cold ground, next to the campfire, and next to Kiara. He looked over to Kiara and raised a bottle of vodka in his hand. "Come on, drink!" Bruce exclaimed towards her.

"I'm not going to become a drunken ass like you!" Kiara snapped at him.

"You don't need drink to be an ass, now drink!" Bruce barked back.

"I'm not about to..." Kiara's words were cut off by a one worded response from Bruce.

"Drink!" Bruce shouted with a smile.

"I won't." Kiara sighed.

"Come on, drink you fucking pussy!" Bruce quickly replied.

Kiara growled at Bruce slightly before saying, "Fine! One small drink!"

Bruce quickly put down his vodka and looked to one of his backpacks besides him, and began searching through it. He pulled out a shot glass and another bottle of vodka.

Kiara watched as Bruce poured a small amount of vodka into the glass and placed it next to her. Kiara just looked at it and then said, "Err, how am I going to drink that?"

Bruce looked at her with a confused expression on his face before looking down to her paws and realized what she meant. "Oh shit, well, you could sort of pick it up with your mouth and try and drink it that way, or I could just pour it into your mouth." Bruce stated, adding the last part with a smirk.

Kiara didn't like the way he said that last part. "I'll pick it up myself." Kiara replied before picking up the shot glass in her mouth and drinking down the vodka inside it at the same time. She dropped the shot glass once she had drunk all the vodka inside it.

Bruce smiled at the little strange expression she was now making, he couldn't tell if she liked the vodka, or hated it. "Want some more?" Bruce asked as he held up the vodka bottle in his hand.

Kiara didn't really like the taste, but she felt kind of thirsty, and she didn't feel like being called a pussy again. "Sure." She replied as she watched Bruce pick up her shot glass and refill it.

2 hours later...

Bruce was now sitting down on the ground, next to the campfire, laughing at the Glaceon now rolling around on the ground. "You're so fucking drunk!" Bruce exclaimed as he continued to laugh at her.

Kiara rolled over to face Bruce and shouted, "No. I'm not!"

"Yes you fucking are!" Bruce shouted back at her with a laugh.

"But I'm not!" Kiara yelled as she rolled over, now facing away from Bruce, attempting to hide the fact that she was wasted.

"You so fucking are! Look at you! You can't even fucking stand and you're rolling' around on the fucking ground!" Bruce laughed before looking to his side and finding two empty vodka bottles. 'That little bitch put away my vodka pretty fast.' Bruce thought to himself.

"I can stand!" Kiara claimed, adding a hiccup at the end.

"Ha, do it then!" Bruce replied.

"I-I'm doing it!" Kiara stated as she managed to roll onto her stomach, using her shaky legs to slowly push herself up into her standing position. "See?" Kiara asked before she stumbled over to Bruce and accidentally headbutted his chest.

Bruce fell on his back, her headbutt wasn't really powerful, but because he was drunk, he didn't really have the strength to resist it. "Gah, fucking hell! Are you going to make a fucking habit of headbutting me now?" Bruce asked her as she rested her head on his stomach.

Kiara giggled and hiccupped slightly before saying, "Maybe."

Bruce looked down to her, resting her head on him. She felt cold, but he felt good, being so close to her. Bruce didn't say anything; he just lay there with Kiara.

Kiara smirked as she asked, "Hey Bruce, what were you thinking of when I caught you?"

"Nothing, do I have to imagine something every time I want to wank?" Bruce quickly responded.

"Wank?" Kiara replied, adding a hiccup and peering up into his eyes, squinting.

"Wank, jack off, jerk off, spanking the monkey, jackin' the beanstalk, whatever the fuck you want to call it." Bruce told her.

"Oh... You were thinking of me, weren't you?" Kiara asked with a devious smile on her face.

"No I fucking wasn't!" Bruce quickly responded.

"I heard you calling my name! You were, weren't you?" Kiara questioned.

"I fucking wasn't and I fucking didn't!" Bruce quickly answered.

"Admit it!" Kiara yelled, adding a hiccup.

"I've got nothing to fucking admit!" Bruce shouted back at her, although he felt tempted to just tell her what he really thought of her.

"Ah fine!" Kiara replied as she closed her eyes, feeling very sleepy.

He looked down to her and said, "Err, what are you doing?"

"Sleeping." Kiara mumbled as she rested her head on Bruce's stomach

"On me?" Bruce questioned. He heard Kiara mumbling something in response, but he couldn't really make out what she was saying. Bruce let out a sigh as he lay on the cold ground, with Kiara by his side. 'I'm going to end up with one hell of a fucking cold like this.' Bruce thought before he closed his eyes, and tried to get some sleep.

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, I think ya know what's comin. Thank you to Hironada, BigBossSonic and Infinity Warrior for correcting some things in this and adding some cool stuff! Oh, and as always, thank you to the awesome readers still reading this story! =D**


	36. Hangover

Richard and Tera got out of their tent, both still sleepy and letting out small yawns, but they felt wide awake when they saw Bruce and Kiara together, sleeping next to the camp fire. Tera was the first to say something. "Well... At least it looks like they're getting along better now." She began.

Richard quickly spotted the empty bottles around them. "I didn't know Kiara was a drinker." He observed as a smile erupted from his face.

Tera had a strange thought in her head, which she thought out loud, "They look cute together."

Richard laughed a little before saying, "They kind of do, in that sort of don't fuck with them kind of way."

Tera giggled a little. "Come on Richard; let's stop staring at the strangely cute couple and see if Owen is awake." She replied while she felt his hand drift over to her paw and held onto it.

"Alright then, lets go." Richard responded as he led her over to the armored car.

Kiara was now lying on top of Bruce, chewing on his shirt slightly as they slept. Bruce hugged her as he slept, completely unaware of his actions. Slowly, Kiara opened her eyes as she heard some noises; she now had a headache and a strange taste in her mouth.

When her eyes focused enough, she found herself on top of Bruce, with his arms around her. Her eyes widened as she blushed lightly, and about a hundred thoughts shot through her head. 'What did we... Oh no, did we?' She thought to herself.

Bruce slowly awoke, and looked down to Kiara who was now staring at him. "Sleep well ice queen?" He asked in his tired voice.

"Err; can you remember what happened last night?" Kiara questioned him, fearing that her thought was correct.

By the look on her face, he could tell what she was thinking, and nearly as soon as he heard those words, a devious smirk crossed his face as he said, "Don't you remember me rocking your world last night? You little slut."

Kiara's eyes widened as a shocked expression quickly appeared on her face before she shouted, "What! We didn't do that last night!" then she paused before adding, "Oh, please tell me we didn't!"

Bruce burst out laughing. "I'm just fucking with you ice queen... Not literally of course!" He added with a grin whilst chuckling.

Kiara growled as she stood up on him. "Bastard." She mumbled before she walked off him.

"What? Angry that you didn't ride me?" Bruce deviously asked her as he sat upright.

"Shut up, I've already got a headache; I don't need a pain in the ass to go along with it." Kiara snapped at him.

"If you have a pain in your ass, it's only because you've got a stick stuck up it." Bruce quickly retorted.

"Ugh, this headache is making your voice even more unbearable than before!" Kiara exclaimed before she looked down to the ground as she felt a dull pain in her head.

Bruce chuckled a little before he exclaimed sarcastically, "Well, I've got to hand it to you ice queen, you can sure put away those drinks!"

Kiara sighed before clearly stating, "I'm never drinking with you again, ever."

"You say that now, but you'll want more of Bruce's juice." Bruce said with a smirk.

"I don't want to be anywhere near your juice!" Kiara shouted.

"When the headache passes, you'll want more." Bruce contradicted as he tried to contain his laughter.

"You know what I really want? You..." Before she could finish, Bruce quickly interrupted her.

"I bet you do." Bruce replied as he chuckled.

"...To shut the hell up." Kiara finished.

"Make me." Bruce said with a smile.

Kiara growled slightly, she thought about headbutting him, but with her headache, she knew that wasn't a good idea. "I will, when I don't have a headache almost as irritating as you are!" Kiara snapped at him before walking away.

Bruce just laughed as he shouted over, "It's going to take a fucking army to shut me up! I don't think a pale blue rat is going to be able to do anything!"

Kiara smirked before looking behind her. "I already did, don't you remember the time I froze that stupid bottle to your mouth?" She asked him.

"That's not going to fucking happen again! Ever!" Bruce firmly told her.

"We'll see." Kiara snappily replied while she walked away.

Bruce's eyes went straight to her rear as she walked away, although, her tail stopped him from getting a view of her private parts. He sighed to himself, he knew he couldn't keep his eyes off her, and he knew that if he kept looking at her like this, he would have many dates with his right hand in the very near future.

Owen was awake, and was now in a conversation with Rhea over his earpiece while he sat down in the car. "Any info on the location of our sniper?" He inquired.

"We don't have a precise location, but we do know what city he's in." Rhea informed him.

"Where?" Owen quickly questioned.

"Castelia City." Rhea responded.

"Driving there will take more than a day; do you think he'll still even be in the city by the time we get there?" Owen asked.

"Our intel gathers he's on a mission, and it's expected that he will still be in the city until midnight tomorrow." Rhea told him.

"Alright then, I'll round up the team and proceed to his location." Owen stated as he opened up the driver's side door and climbed out of the car.

"Good luck." Rhea finalized the conversation before Owen heard a crackling noise through the earpiece, and saw Richard and Tera walking towards him.

Richard didn't want to spend anymore time in this forest than they needed to; he thought staying in one place would only attract attention. "Do you have the location of our next recruit?" Richard asked him.

"Yes, Castelia City." Owen told him.

"Wait, that's nearly right on the other side of Unova, how are we supposed to get there today?" Richard questioned.

"We won't, we'll have to start driving today and hope we get there by tomorrow." Owen replied.

"Alright then, I guess I'll start packing up the camping gear." Richard told him as he turned around and walked back to his tent with Tera.

After an hour of packing and waking up, everyone was now in the car. Bruce and Kiara were quieter than usual. Louis and Reaper were sitting silently, occasionally looking out of the window or asking an odd question or two.

Kovick was now talking to Richard and Tera, he was very curious about their relationship. "How did you two meet?" Kovick curiously asked.

Tera was more than happy to answer. "Well, we met in a cave." She began as she smiled, knowing how silly it sounded.

Kovick gave a confused expression before repeating, "A cave?"

Tera nodded. "Yes, it was raining and I wanted to find shelter. Richard was already in the cave when I walked into it." She told him.

Kovick was a little confused; he guessed that Tera was a wild Lucario before she met Richard, meaning that she most likely belonged to a clan. But he was confused about her having no shelter; he knew that they could build homes, solid ones at that. "Why were you looking for shelter? Didn't your clan build homes?" He asked her.

"Err... My...clan passed away before I met Richard." Tera stated.

Kovick wanted to ask what happened to them, but he guessed that it would be hard for her to talk about. "Oh, I'm sorry... So, what made you stay around Richard?" Kovick replied.

Tera smiled as she laid her story, "I had no where else to go, and Richard asked me if I'd like to travel with him. I studied his aura, and from what I could tell, his word about being a good man was the truth; so I decided to stay with him."

"When did you two get together as a couple?" Kovick asked.

Richard was the one to answer this time. "Maybe a month after we met each other." He stated, remembering all of the good times.

Kovick hoped that he could learn something from Richard's and Tera's relationship, he thought that it might some how help him for when he admits his feelings to his Ninetales assistant, Aneko. "Who said they liked the other first?" He curiously asked.

Richard smiled as he looked at Tera, who leaned on his shoulder, before saying, "I did."

"When did you know it was the right time to tell her how you felt?" Kovick inquired.

"I didn't. A few hours before I told her, I was shot. Thankfully I was wearing body armor. I thought to myself that I didn't want to die without telling her how I felt, so I told her, and she felt the same way." Richard told him with a big smile on his face.

Kovick had noticed how close Richard and Tera were, he wondered if he could be that close with Aneko.

Tera began to wonder why he was asking all these questions about their relationship, so she asked, "Why are you so curious about me and Richard?"

Kovick looked at them both and said, "Because... Well, remember the Ninetales I mentioned back at the gas station?"

Tera nodded as she remembered his words back at the gas station. "The one you're in love with?" She asked.

Kovick nodded. "Yes, well... I want to tell her how I feel after this mission, but I don't think I should go through with it.

Louis was listening in, and felt the need to say something. "You shouldn't. It's sick and twisted." He stated before he was nudged in the ribs by Reaper to show his disapproval.

Kovick glared at Louis, he could already feel his anger rising inside him as he said, "No one asked for your fucking opinion."

Tera decided to interrupt them before a fight broke out, "Why don't you think you should go ahead with it Kovick?"

Kovick looked back over to Tera, still very angry about Louis' interruption. "Because... There's a really big age difference between us." He told her.

Tera looked confused as she asked, "How old are you both then?"

"I'm 27, and she's 200 years old." Kovick answered.

That number came as a shock to both Richard and Tera, but Richard said with a word of encouragement, "Well, it doesn't really matter... You love her, that's the main thing."

Tera looked at Kovick, and asked, "How long can a Ninetales live for?"

Kovick sighed before he statistically said aloud, "The average life expectancy for a Ninetales is around about the one thousand mark... So even if she loved me, she might just forget about me when I'm dead."

Tera could hear the depression in his voice, it was clear to her that he felt very strongly about this. "I would never forget Richard, not even in a thousand years. If she truly loves you, then she will always remember you." She reassured him.

Kovick looked back to Tera. "There's another thing. She's still a virgin... What if she just isn't interested in finding a mate? If I told her how I feel, it could ruin our friendship. I'd prefer to have her as a friend than not have her at all." He replied.

Richard could remember when he thought exactly the same thing about Tera. "I thought the same thing, I was scared of the thought that Tera wouldn't feel the same way when I told her, I thought that she might not even look at me again. But I'm glad I took that chance." Richard responded before he looked back to Tera who had a bright smile on her face.

The more Kovick looked at Richard and Tera, the more he began to think that taking the risk and telling Aneko how he felt was a good idea. "Thanks for putting up with my questions." Kovick said with a small chuckle.

Richard looked back to Kovick and smiled, adding, "Anytime. You can always talk to us if you have any questions. We're here for you."

"Thank you." Kovick replied with a small smile.

Owen was driving, when he looked to one of the passenger side seats and saw the dossier of 'The Sniper'. He reminded himself to tell Richard to read through it later, and then went back to watching the road.

Midnight arrived, and they had covered a considerable distance. The landscape changed from snowy and cold to a sandy desert, but it seemed just as cold as where they came from.

The road they were driving down seemed endless, so he pulled over and decided to find a spot to camp out for the night. Everyone got their tents set up, with the exception of Bruce who had given up on setting up his tent, yet again.

Owen and Kovick now looked out for fire wood, but in a desert where there were nearly no trees, that was a hard thing to do. Although they did find some planks left over from what seemed to be some old construction.

Kovick didn't know much about Owen, so he decided to ask him some questions. "So, how old are you?" He asked.

Owen sighed before he said a two figured number. "37."

Kovick looked at him, he would have guessed that he was in his early thirties; he would have also guessed that his stressful job would have aged him more. "Man, you agents must have some impressive health care plan." He replied.

Owen chuckled before saying, "Yeah, well we need one. We get the shit kicked out of us on a daily basis. But, it pays pretty well, so I suppose there's an added benefit."

Kovick didn't doubt that. "Who would have thought that being an agent would be so dangerous huh?" He responded with a smile.

"I thought that I would be sitting at a computer screen trying to track down criminals from the internet, but no, Rhea got that job." Owen stated sarcastically.

Kovick gave a confused look before he repeated, "Rhea? A friend of yours?"

Owen chuckled a little. "Yeah, my friend and contact, although most of the time it feels she's just there to criticize me." He said.

"Ha, I have friends like that too, they can be annoying but their hearts are in the right place." Kovick replied.

"Yeah... I've just noticed something about our group; everyone seemed to be interested in someone, apart from me, Reaper and Louis." Owen stated.

"Forgetting Bruce and Kiara?" Kovick asked.

"No, you can't become an agent for as long as I have, and not pick up a little something about body language. They like each other... Well, like might not be the right word for them." Owen told Kovick with a smile.

"Oh, so it's sort of a love to hate kind of relationship?" Kovick questioned as he chuckled a little.

"Whatever kind of relationship it is, I wouldn't want to be in it." Owen replied as he smiled.

"You wouldn't want to be in a nice, violent loving relationship like Bruce and Kiara?" Kovick responded, adding a smirk at the end.

"Ha, well, it's different I guess. Just don't tell them I think they like each other. I could do without them shouting at me and giving me a headache." Owen stated.

"Gotcha. So, about our teammates then, what do you think of Richard and Tera?" Kovick questioned.

"They seem nice and polite; I wasn't expecting that from Richard, a guy who has quite the body count to his name. I wasn't expecting Tera to come along as well; I just hope nothing happens to them, I don't think they could cope without each other." Owen told him.

Kovick nodded and then asked, "Well, what do you think of Louis and Reaper then?"

"Reaper seems sensible; he's the kind of guy that would make a good agent. I bet he could if he wanted to. Louis, well, while I don't agree with his views, I still think that he could bring something to the team. I know he has locations and information in his head that we could use; I've heard he's quite the able fighter too. Just try not to get into a fight with him, okay?" Owen replied.

"I know how to manage my feelings... But no promises." Kovick chuckled.

Owen just chuckled before he said, "Good enough."

Kovick looked around him before saying, "I don't think we're going to get anymore fire wood out of this desert."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Lets head back to camp; hopefully these planks will be enough to keep the fire going." Owen replied as he walked back to camp with Kovick.

* * *

**Author's notes: I'd like to thank hironada, Infinity Warrior and BigBossSonic for editing this chapter and adding stuff to it! Also would like to thank Pokeflare and Infinity-Zarfeeeeer for sending in suggestions! Oh, and thank you awesome guys and girls for reading!**


	37. The Sniper

As Kovick and Owen walked back to camp, they saw a worrying sight, Kiara drinking with Bruce.

Bruce watched as Kiara drank the shot glass full of vodka. "Heh, I told you you'd be back for more of my juice." he reminded her with a smirk.

Kiara gave him a pissed off look and she pretended to gag before she replied, "Stop calling it that, you're making me feel sick."

"Yeah, I usually trigger a girl's gag reflex. It makes it more enjoyable for me." Bruce taunted her with a laugh.

"Ugh! You're disgusting." Kiara snapped back at him, as a pink tint came upon her cheeks.

"Yet I can still make the ice queen blush." Bruce replied with a smile shortly before raising a bottle of vodka to his lips and taking a big mouth full of the alcoholic drink.

Kiara growled lightly in response as she shouted, "I-I was not blushing!"

"Ha, why so touchy?" Bruce asked with a smirk.

Kiara tried not to look angry, and tried to stay as calm as possible, but that didn't go so well. "I just don't want some stupid human drunkard telling me I'm blushing when I know it's impossible for me to blush!" She yelled at him.

Bruce laughed as he exclaimed with a laugh, "You care too much… You need to drink more!"

Kiara watched as he poured her another drink, she knew her head wasn't going to thank her in the morning, but she drunk it out of anger. She then dropped her shot glass and looked at Bruce. "You're so annoying." she growled at him.

Bruce laughed, as he unconsciously poured her another as he stated, "Looks like you need a good dose of shut the fuck up."

"If you don't stop being a smart ass, then you'll get a heavy dose of pain." Kiara snapped back at him before drinking the vodka in her shot glass.

"Oh! I'm so scared of the little bitchy ice rat!" Bruce sarcastically yelled, putting on an over-dramatically scared voice.

"You will be when I jam a few icicles into your chest!" Kiara threatened him.

"I will jam my gun down your fucking throat and unload its fucking clip!" Bruce yelled back at her.

Kiara smirked as she remembered something he stated before, "You sure do think of such creative places to put your gun. First it was my ass, but now it's my throat. I wonder where else you would like to stick it."

Bruce was a little surprised by that comment, which showed by the way his cheeks now had a slightly pinkish tone to them. "Oh, you'd love my gun wouldn't you?" Bruce replied with a smirk.

"I'd love to take your gun, freeze it, and shatter it into little pieces; by the way, you're blushing." Kiara said with a devious look on her face.

"What? No I'm fucking not!" Bruce claimed as the pinkish tint on his face got slightly brighter.

Owen and Kovick had now put the planks into place, ready to be set alight. Owen had guessed that now was going to be a good time to ask Bruce to light it up.

"Hey Bruce, can you get a fire going for us?" Owen asked him.

Bruce looked back to Owen and began, "Sure, let me just grab my absinthe, pour it over this fucking ice rat and set her on fire!"

Kiara giggled at him. "You're just angry because you're blushing." Kiara reminded him with a smile on her face.

Bruce pulled out a bottle of absinthe from one of his backpacks and glared at Kiara. "Don't fucking tempt me." he angrily responded before pouring it over the planks and reaching inside his pocket for his lighter.

Kovick looked at Bruce and asked, "Do you smoke?"

"No." Bruce replied as he set the planks alight.

Kiara smirked as she saw a perfect opportunity, "Don't burst into flames now drunky."

Bruce turned, then glared at her as he shouted, "Fuck off!"

Kovick looked over to him as he sat down next to Kiara. "So why do you have a lighter?"

Bruce shrugged as he stated, "I don't know, I guess I just like having the option to burn shit down."

Kiara sighed as she said, "Fire bug."

"Now what's so wrong with being a pyro, Ice Bitch?" Bruce questioned, with a snap back at her.

Kovick and Owen sat down by the fire, they didn't want to admit it, but they enjoyed watching Bruce and Kiara arguing and shouting at each other. An hour seemed to pass in no time, Richard and Tera were in their tent, Louis and Reaper in theirs, and Bruce, Kiara, Kovick and Owen still outside. It didn't take long for Kiara to become drunk again.

Kiara was sitting down, but even that seemed like a hard thing for her to do now. She swayed a little from side to side; Kovick knew that giving a Pokémon like her alcohol was not a good idea. Kiara looked up at Bruce, hiccuped and said, "Bruce?"

Bruce looked back down to her. "Yeah?" He responded.

Without warning, Kiara head-butted him in the chest and landed on top of him with a giggle, much to the surprise of Kovick and Owen.

"Ah Fuck! What was that for ice bitch?" Bruce shouted out as he landed on the sandy ground.

Kiara simply smiled and answered, "I just felt like it."

"Well you better fucking watch out for whenever I just want to randomly head-butt you!" Bruce threatened.

Kiara just giggled as she got comfortable on Bruce's body, at which point Owen and Kovick looked at each other, confirming that they were thinking the same thing.

Kiara rested her head on his chest as she closed her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." the drunken Glaceon replied.

"Are you fucking sleeping on me again?" Bruce asked her.

"Mhmhmm." Kiara replied, which meant, 'Yes, now shut up.'

"Ugh, fucking fine then." Bruce ended, trying his best to sound disappointed, when really he liked her being so close to him.

Owen then whispered to Kovick, "I told you they like each other."

Kovick looked back to Owen and whispered, "Alcohol can make a Zangoose like a Seviper, but they'll still rip each other apart when they sober up."

Owen nodded before whispering back, "True, but have you noticed how they always sit together and try to find each other just to have arguments?"

"Not until now." Kovick replied.

Owen looked at his watch, and saw that it was now half past one in the morning. "I'm going to get some sleep soon." he stated.

"Yeah, I'm going to do the same now. I'll talk to you later." Kovick finished as he got up.

"See ya later." Owen responded as Kovick walked over to his tent. Shortly after, he got up and walked over to his car, and slept in it. Bruce and Kiara were already asleep before Owen even reached his car.

A few hours later, the sun rose, and the majority of the team awoke, mainly because of the uncomfortable heat.

Kiara opened her eyes, and found herself on top of Bruce once more, who awoke when she did. 'Ugh, not again. Well, at least I didn't get any sand on my fur... And at least he's comfy.' she thought to herself before jumping off Bruce, and realizing just how hot it was. "It's boiling out here!" Kiara exclaimed as her paw pads touched the hot sand.

Bruce chuckled as he questioned, "Aw, the poor ice queen is melting?"

Kiara glared at him and shouted, "Shut up!"

Within mere seconds, Bruce felt the air around him get just as cold as the night they arrived, replacing the uncomfortable heat. He looked over to Kiara who now had a smile on her face. "Well, at least you're good for something." he told her.

"Unlike a certain drunkard human." Kiara snappily responded.

"At least I'm not a fucking walking ice cube." Bruce snapped back at her.

"You're only calling me that because you know you're useless." Kiara spat at him.

"Fuck off!" Bruce angrily yelled as he got up off the sandy ground. 'Shit, I've got sand down my shirt.' he thought to himself before taking his shirt off and rubbing the sand off his back with it.

Kiara looked at Bruce's surprisingly well toned body as she asked, "Err, what are you doing?"

Bruce looked back at her and angrily replied, "Getting this fucking sand off my back!"

Kiara could see some long scratches on his back, she wondered if they were from when he got thrown through the window back when she first met him. "Well, good luck with that." She told him as she walked over to Richard's and Tera's tent, occasionally looking behind herself to take another look at Bruce's body. "Err, are you two in there?" Kiara asked when she reached the tent.

Richard looked to the entrance of the tent and said, "Yeah, we're here. Are we going now?"

Kiara looked over to the car and saw Kovick and Owen talking with each other. "Not yet, but we'll probably be going soon." Kiara replied.

Richard sighed before saying, "We'll be out soon."

"Okay." Kiara finished, as she began to walk away.

Half an hour passed, and everyone was now in the car. The road was hot enough to fry an egg on, but no one in the car would have guessed it. Kiara was keeping the entire car cool; the seat she was sitting on was below the freezing point, although no one but her would know that.

Richard was now reading through the dossier of 'The Sniper'. The first thing that Richard noticed about this dossier when he opened it was that unlike all the rest, this one did not have a picture, and most of the details were listed as classified. His name, height, recruit number, and place of birth were all classified. All that remained was a brief description of his background, and his age.

'Age: 49

Background information: This agent has proved his worth more times than ten average agents put together over the course of twenty years.

Our intel says that his age hasn't seemed to have affected his work, being able to easily pull off most missions younger agents would struggle with. He likes to have a great distance between himself and the target, but will get up close if necessary.'

Richard stopped reading it, he was surprised at the age of the recruit, it made him wonder just how long he had been a sniper, and how long he plans on still being a sniper. He set down the dossier on his lap; he was glad that he didn't need to read anymore of them. He noticed that Bruce didn't seem too happy when he found out there was a folder containing a lot of personal information about him, Richard didn't blame him, he knew that he would have felt the same way.

Richard stopped thinking about everyone else and rested his head on Tera's.

Tera hugged Richard as they both closed their eyes and tried to enjoy the journey as much as possible.

Owen now knew where his recruit was, in a hotel somewhere inside the city they were heading to. He always hated hotels, almost every time he stayed in or around one, something bad seemed to happen.

A few more hours had passed; as they were now driving down a busy road in a densely populated city.

They had finally reached their destination, Castelia City.

Owen wanted to get to the next recruit quickly before he killed someone. He knew where the recruit was and he wanted to meet him without his team there. He had already explained that taking a full team would attract attention, that's why he would be dropping them off outside the hotel, and meet back up with them at the same spot three hours after they arrive there.

Owen knew he was almost there, but the traffic in this city was terrible, but he did expect this, after all, it was the second most heavily populated city in Unova. About half an hour later, the car pulled up to the sidewalk and Owen announced "We're here."

Everyone got out of the car and looked at the hotel, the entrance was fancy, big potted plants by the shiny glass double doors that had a man in a fancy suit standing next to them, opening and closing the doors for the people leaving and entering. Owen watched his team walk away, Richard, Tera, Kiara, Kovick and Bruce going on one direction, Louis and Reaper going in the other direction. Owen walked towards the hotel, the man in the fancy clothes held the door open for him as he walked in, towards the woman behind the fancy marble desk.

The woman behind the desk gave a bright smile as she asked, "How can I help you?"

Owen returned the smile as he hid his bandaged hand in one of the pockets of his jeans. "I'm looking for a friend of mine, he's expecting me." he told her.

The woman started tapping away at her computer as she inquired, "What's his name?"

Owen quickly remembered the man's alias. "Lucas Manning."

The woman quickly found the man's room and then said to Owen, "I've got his room here, but I'm going to have to call him if he's expecting you."

"I understand." Owen replied as he watched the woman pick up the phone and say a few words to the man on the other end, telling him of Owen's presence before saying yes and then putting down the phone.

The woman wrote down something on a piece of paper and handed it to Owen. "He's in that room, floor 33." she told him

"Thanks." Owen replied before walking over to the elevator and reading what was on the piece of paper. 'Room 1496' the piece of paper had written on it. That made Owen wonder just how many guests were here, all potential witnesses to an assassination that may be performed within a few hours.

Although the recruit's dossier was titled, 'The Sniper', he didn't need to be two hundred feet away to dispose of his targets. It was likely that the person the recruit was planning to assassinate was also a guest in this hotel, or in one of the buildings opposite his room.

Owen guessed that by now that the recruit had been informed that he was to become a part of the team he was building up, or at least he hoped that was the case, if not, then he might have a fight on his hands. He got into the elevator and pressed the button for the 33rd floor and watched the doors close.

A few seconds later, the door reopened, now on the 33rd floor. He walked into the long corridor and began searching for the room, and eventually, he found it. Owen braced himself for a fight as he knocked on the door three times. A few seconds later, a man opened it. The man looked to be in his late forties; he had gray hair, a five o'clock shadow and was around about six foot tall. He was wearing black trousers with a black tuxedo, with a nice white shirt underneath it and a black tie.

"Get in here." the man ordered him, his voice sounding gravely.

Owen did as he asked ad walked into his fancy hotel room. As soon as he heard the door close behind him, he turned around to the recruit and asked, "Do you know who I am? Have you been informed?"

"Yes, I do. Agent one-seven-seven." the man informed him as he walked over to the suitcase on the big double bed.

"Just call me Owen." he replied as he watched the recruit put on some black leather tactical gloves.

"Alright, so I know about you, but what do you know about me?" the recruit inquired as he sat down on the edge of his bed.

"I know you're possibly the best sniper around, and I know you're an agent like me. I also know you're planning to assassinate someone tonight." Owen replied.

"That's right, and I'm going to do my job. Do me a favor and carry that suitcase for me and put it somewhere safe." the recruit commanded him as he pointed to the large suitcase on the bed.

"Alright, I'll bring it into the car." Owen replied as he grabbed the suitcase, which felt unusually heavy.

"Do me another favor and stay in the car for another four hours." the recruit responded.

"Why?" Owen questioned him.

"Because I don't want anyone interrupting me when I'm about to pull off an assassination. When I get in your car, you better get ready to drive." the recruit warned him as he walked with Owen over to the door to the room.

"Alright, just don't attract too much attention." Owen told him as he walked out of the room.

"That might not be possible." the recruit replied as he closed the door on him.

Three hours and fifty minutes exactly had passed, and the recruit was now walking towards a man in a corridor who was standing beside a door to one of the hotel rooms. The doorman was dressed in a black suit, and was a few inches taller than the recruit, and younger, he looked to be in his twenties. The recruit walked up to him, and played the part of the senile old man. "Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to know where my room is would you?" the recruit asked the intimidating doorman.

"What? Fuck off old man!" the doorman barked at him.

"Now there's no need for that language." the recruit replied as he took one step closer to the doorman.

The doorman attempted to grab his shoulder. "Get the..." the doorman couldn't finish his sentence, as the recruit quickly punched him in the throat.

The recruit watched the man fall down to the ground, gasping for air as he kicked him in the face once, at which point, the door man's gasping grew much quieter. The recruit knelt down to search through the man's pockets, and eventually found a set of keys to the door he was meant to be guarding.

The recruit just ignored the dying man on the floor next to him as he unlocked the door, and walked into a small hallway leading up to the living room. He looked to his right and saw a small circular table had a thick vase containing roses on top of it.

He couldn't help but think why his room wasn't as big as the target's room. He didn't have time to think about that though, as he saw a single bodyguard walk into sight, wearing the same attire as the door man.

The bodyguard that was in the main room looked down the hallway, expecting to see the doorman, but instead saw a man in his late forties emptying a vase full of water and roses, he exclaimed what he thought.

"What the fuck?"

He quickly reached for his gun inside his black suit, but couldn't pull it out in time as the vase the man was holding was now heading towards him after being thrown, and milliseconds later, it smashed over his head, causing a big gash on his forehead and making him stumble backwards into the wall, completely dazed.

The recruit sprinted towards the bodyguard as he quickly regained his senses, and drew his gun, but by the time he did, the recruit was already in front of him. For a split second, the bodyguard had his pistol aimed at the recruit's chest, but the recruit grabbed the gun in the bodyguard's hand downwards.

The gun fired one shot, which hit the bodyguard's own foot. The bodyguard yelled out in pain, and the recruit yanked the pistol out of his hand as he threw his fist into the bodyguard's nose, causing it to gush with blood. The bodyguard hit the ground, and the recruit used the bodyguard's own pistol to shoot out his eye, ending the man's life.

The recruit looked to his left; there was nothing there but a bed and window which the target couldn't possibly escape from, not without falling to his death anyway. The recruit then looked to his right, and saw the door to the bathroom locked.

Without even thinking twice about things, he unloaded the entire clip of the pistol into the bathroom door, he didn't know how many bullets he had fired into the door, all he knew that it was more than ten. When the pistol was empty, he dropped it, and walked over to the bathroom door, and kicked it open.

He then saw his target, slumped next to the toilet, still alive. From the looks of things, two bullets hit his right shoulder, one hit his left thigh, another hit his right forearm, and one had been lodged into his stomach. The target was breathing in slowly, bleeding heavily, and looked to be in immense pain, but the recruit didn't care.

The target was a member of the Black Vipers.

The recruit walked over to him, and crouched besides him. He placed both of his hands on opposite sides of the target's head, and twisted quickly, snapping his neck.

He then quickly got up, and wasted no time in fleeing the scene. He knew he wouldn't go to jail for what he had done, after all, the government had ordered it, and he gave them what they wanted, but he really didn't want the extra attention from the police. He knew someone would have surely heard those gunshots.

Or something.

* * *

**Author's notes: Alrighty! Thanking the usual people! hironada, BigBossSonic and Infinity Warrior! Again, big thanks to the readers too! Oh, and this is to Shinypokemanic, my secret is just to be very bored, and have a creative (And sometimes dirty and violent) mind!  
**


	38. Return of the terminal

3 hours earlier...

Bruce and Kiara were now walking down a street after coming out of a shop. All they bought was food, and Bruce was now carrying around a big block of cheddar cheese in his backpack. He just had to ask. "Why do you like that cheese shit so much?" he questioned.

"Because it's tasty, why do you like to drink so much?" Kiara quickly retorted.

Bruce shrugged as he replied, "Because... I like to get drunk!"

"You should stop; you can't afford to lose anymore brain cells." Kiara responded with a smirk.

"You should stop talking, if you want to keep your fucking head attached to your neck." Bruce angrily stated.

"Oh, I'm so scared." Kiara giggled.

"You will be." Bruce threatened, in a menacing tone of voice.

"Only if you plan on drinking more flammable drinks, you're already a fire hazard as it is." Kiara playfully stated.

"Fuck you!" Bruce quickly shouted, raising his middle finger at her.  
Kiara smiled as she looked at Bruce, who once again looked pissed off

He continued walking down the street, until he saw something that he didn't like the look of. "Oh fucking no, another one!" Bruce shouted as he looked over to a familiar terminal embedded into a wall of a big building.

"You're not going to smash it are you? Again?" Kiara questioned him.

"Depends, if it works, I won't. If it doesn't, then I'll probably be arrested for smashing the shit out of it or something." Bruce cheerfully said as he walked over to the terminal.

"So, another one." Bruce stated.

"Another?" the terminal replied in a robotic sounding voice as words popped up on the screen, the history of this conversation between it and anyone using it.

"Another fucking broken robot!" Bruce shouted at it.

"Another programmer?" the terminal responded.

"Huh?" Bruce mumbled as he looked at the screen.

"I can spell, get over it." the terminal misinterpreted.

"Wow, you can spell and talk, but you can't fucking do anything else can you?" Bruce angrily spat back.

"But I clearly can't psychoanalyze as effectively. I had no idea." the terminal confusedly replied.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Bruce questioned.

"No, I'm talking about you." the terminal said.

Kiara could see Bruce's hands balling up into fists and decided to ask the terminal something before he smashed it to pieces. "Err, do you know any shops around here?" Kiara asked it.

"I don't know where you are!" the terminal exclaimed.

Bruce sighed before saying, "This is probably the only fucking time anyone has ever needed a big fucking map saying 'YOU ARE HERE!'"

"Good. I am glad you live in a sane place." the terminal stated with no emotion.

"We're not getting fuck all outta this piece of shit!" Bruce yelled as he looked around, now seeing a few people looking over to him, Kiara and the terminal.

"Yes I am." the terminal responded.

Kiara tried to get some sense out of the terminal. "We're in Castelia City, do you know any shops around here?" she asked it.

"Fine, be that way." the terminal replied as Kiara gave a confused look in response.

"Ha, I don't think it likes you ice queen!" Bruce said with a chuckle.

The terminal then snappily responded, "Then don't ask me about it."

Kiara frowned at Bruce. "I'm starting to realize why you smashed that other terminal." she told him.

The terminal once again decided to chip into the conversation by randomly saying, "You know that you will die one day, don't you?"

Bruce quickly stopped laughing and turned his attention to the terminal. "Yeah, but I'll still be around a lot fucking longer than you will!" Bruce shouted as he looked down to the ground. He picked up half a brick which was to the right of the machine. 'Convenient.' Bruce thought to himself.

"No, I refuse to leave things like this!" the female robotic voice yelled back at him.

Bruce wondered if that it could see him about to throw the brick at the terminal, but at this point, he didn't really care. "Not your fucking choice." Bruce replied smugly as he now threw the brick at the terminal, smashing it, causing all the images and text on the screen to disappear.

Kiara just looked at Bruce and said, "You could have just walked away from it."

"Only pussies walk away from someone that needs fucking up." Bruce replied.

"But... It's just a computer..." Kiara trailed off, giving him a disapproving look.

"Yeah, a computer with a smart fucking mouth." Bruce responded.

"It doesn't have a mouth." Kiara disagreed, smirking.

"You know what I fucking meant! Now let's get out of here, I don't want to pay for that piece of shit." Bruce told her before walking away.

Nearly three hours had passed and everyone was back in the car, all very bored and tired as they had been waiting in the car for a quite some time. Owen in particular was very bored, he had been waiting for nearly four hours in the same spot, just sitting in the car and waiting for everyone to turn up.

Suddenly, everyone looked one of the doors to the back of the car to see the old well-dressed recruit.

The recruit quickly got into the back of the car and took the one remaining empty seat. "We should move now, before the police arrive." the old man calmly told Owen.

Owen nodded and calmly drove away, careful not to attract any unwanted attraction.

Bruce stared at the recruit for a while before saying, "How old are you old man?"

"Old enough to be touchy about my age." the recruit responded.

"Touchy subject? Alright, name?" Bruce asked.

"Do I have to share mine?" the recruit tiredly replied.

"Just being fucking friendly, don't have to be a tight ass just because you're old." Bruce spat as he started to lose his patience.

"Fine, my name is Tobias. Judging from all that alcohol in your bag, you're either planning to make an incendiary bomb, or you're an alcoholic." Tobias replied.

"The second one, and if you've got a problem with it then I don't give a shit." Bruce responded.

"I don't care what you do, just as long as you don't stumble into my line of fire." Tobias told him.

"Hey, you shoot me and stumbling or not, I'll kick the shit out of you." Bruce sternly warned him.

"Just keep your mind on this mission and not on the drink." Tobias sighed.

"Fuck off." Bruce replied as he took out a bottle of vodka and quickly unscrewed the bottle to drink it out of anger and spite.

Tobias didn't say anymore, he knew it wouldn't be wise to agitate his new teammates.

Hours passed as Owen drove away from the densely populated city; he didn't plan on staying in another hotel in case the police managed to track them down, so he decided to head back to the spot they set up camp last night, in the desert. It was now midnight, the car had stopped and everyone set up their tents.

Away from the rest of the camp, Tobias was sitting on the sandy ground, looking out for anyone approaching the campsite although, all he saw was empty desert. He had received an earpiece from Owen since getting to the camp, although he didn't talk to any of the Pokémon in the group, or anyone else besides Bruce and Owen since he met them.  
He had no interest in getting to know the others, but he did notice one thing about two members of the group, the young man dressed primarily in blue clothing with the bandaged up leg and the Scyther stayed away from the rest. He was curious why he wasn't talking away like all the rest were.  
He didn't really care, he was just a little curious.  
His tent was also already up, he guessed at some point he would crawl into it and try to sleep, but considering what the goal of this mission was, he preferred to be awake rather than asleep for the night.  
Meanwhile, Owen was sitting on the bonnet of the car, talking to Rhea. He had something on his mind he thought he should tell her. "Rhea, are you there?" Owen asked through the microphone part of his earpiece.

"I'm here." Rhea answered.

"I've had something on my mind for a while." Owen admitted.

"What is it?" Rhea inquired.

"I'm going to quit the agency when this mission is over." Owen told her.

"Why? What made you decide to just quit after this long?" Rhea questioned him.

Owen quickly defended his choice to leave by saying, "This job has driven me near insanity and almost killed me a hundred times over!"

Rhea knew when Owen was hiding something; this was one of those times. "But that's not why you're leaving, is it?" she asked him.

"No, it isn't... It's Chase." Owen told her.

As soon as Rhea heard that name, she knew why he was leaving. "I understand Owen... I wish you the best, it'll be strange working with a different agent after all this time." she stated.

Owen smiled while he told her, "I know, I'll miss you too... Oh, by the way is Chase still..."

Rhea already knew what he was going to ask her and quickly stated, "Yes, he is still single."

"Right, I'll talk to you later then." Owen replied.

"Goodbye." Rhea finalized before Owen heard the familiar crackling sound, signaling the end of the conversation.

Owen got off the car's bonnet, and walked over to the campfire to talk to Kovick, he thought maybe speaking to someone would get his mind off things.

A few minutes passed. Richard and Tera were in their tent, sleeping together. Bruce was passed out on the sand near the campfire after deciding to get experimental with some drinks.  
Kiara was sleeping next to Bruce, her paws twitching as she dreamed. Louis and Reaper were away from the others, talking near their tent. Kovick and Owen were now sitting by the campfire.

Kovick didn't know much about Owen but he seemed like a good guy to him. "How long have you been an agent?" Kovick inquired.

Owen stopped staring at the flames and looked to Kovick. "About... thirteen years maybe... probably longer." he answered.

"I bet you've seen a lot of interesting stuff in that time." Kovick replied with a smile.

"If by interesting you mean disturbing, then definitely." Owen stated.

"Anything stand out?" Kovick asked.

"Well my first mission was definitely the strangest, but I can't speak about the details of that one, classified." Owen lied; he just didn't want to talk about it.

"Never mind... Could I ask you something else?" Kovick questioned.

"Go ahead." Owen responded.

"Alright, well, have you noticed how a lot of our team has some kind of love interest with different species? I mean, I'm interested in Aneko, my assistant. And of course there's Richard and Tera, and maybe Bruce and Kiara... I'm still not sure if Bruce and Kiara like or hate each other by the way." Kovick began, mumbling the last part.

"Yeah, I've noticed that. I didn't think much of it because Pokémon and human relationships are common." Owen replied.

"I'm aware of that." Kovick begun with a smile. "I was just wondering if you've ever been interested in a Pokémon before." he added.

Owen smiled as he said, "Yes, I have."

"So have you got a girlfriend or a wife?" Kovick curiously asked.

"Err, no... It's kind of complicated." Owen responded.

"Oh, so err... What is the Pokémon you're interested in?" Kovick inquired.

"I've been interested in a few Pokémon... The first was a Gardevoir. She was very... Forceful." Owen chuckled with a smile on his face.

Kovick chuckled a little. "Do you still see her?" he asked.

The smile on Owen's face soon disappeared before saying, "No... I couldn't even if I wanted to."

Kovick decided to not ask what happened between those two, but he did ask, "Have you been with any other Pokémon?"

Owen wondered why Kovick was so curious as he said, "Yes, I have. Only one other though... When this mission is over, I plan on meeting up with that Pokémon again."

"What is she?" Kovick asked.

Owen wondered if he should tell Kovick, or if it could get a little too awkward. In the end, Owen decided to tell him. "Actually, it's a he." Owen stated.  
Kovick was surprised by what Owen just told him, but that did trigger some questions in his head which then left his lips. "What is he then?" Kovick inquired.

"Err, are you sure you want to know?" Owen asked.

"Sure, it doesn't matter to me if you like a guy, we're all different." Kovick replied with a smile.

Owen was glad to hear him say that, some people he had told just didn't really look at him the same way. "Alright then... He's a Gallade." Owen told him.

"Oh, what's his name?" Kovick asked casually as he ignored the fact that Owen had slept with a member of the same species as his father.

"His name is Chase." Owen replied.

"How did you two meet anyway?" Kovick asked him, beginning to get interested.

"He worked with me a while, we were both agents and we went on just about every mission with each other. We trusted each other very much, liked pretty much the same things and even spent most of our spare time with each other." He began.  
"I had only realized after about three years working with him that he had feelings for me. I had often wondered what it would be like being with him but I never thought that I'd actually... Well, you know." Owen finished.

"How did you find out how he felt about you?" Kovick asked.

"We came back from a mission; I got banged up pretty bad, bruises here and there. Anyway, I went back to his place to rest up, I made a joke about something, and we just kind of ended up... Together. It shocked the hell out of both of us to find out we were both bisexual, I don't think either of us expected to end up with another male." Owen smiled as he remembered that moment.

Hearing that strangely gave Kovick hope; he thought that if Owen and that Gallade could get past them both being males, maybe he and Aneko could get past the life expectancy thing. "What happened after that?" Kovick curiously asked.

Owen chuckled before saying, "We basically had the best time of our lives. I remember when the other agents found out about me and Chase; you should have seen the look on some of their faces."

"I'm guessing they were surprised." Kovick said as he smiled.

"Surprised? Some of them looked like they were ready to pass out!" Owen told him as he laughed a little.

"They don't sound like very good agents if that's enough to make them pass out." Kovick replied, returning a smile.

"Well most of them were just people who deal with paperwork." Owen stated with a smirk.

Kovick chuckled before saying, "So are you and Chase still together then?"

Owen let out a sigh. "Well... No... Chase quit a year ago, and I kept working as an agent... We had an argument over it and we just kind of broke up... I don't know who I blame more, him for quitting or myself for staying." Owen replied in a depressed tone of voice.

Kovick gave a confused expression before telling him, "Sounds like you were both idiots. It also sounds like you were both perfect for each other."

"I know that... That's why I'm quitting this fucking job. The only good thing that came out of my job was meeting Chase and getting a good paycheck." Owen angrily admitted as he stared into the flames of the campfire.

"What will you do once you've quit?" Kovick asked.

"Find Chase and hope he's still single... I've been with people before Chase, but he's the one person I've actually… Fell in love with." Owen stated as he looked back over to Kovick.

"And he loved you too?" Kovick asked.

"That's what he said every night we were together... I didn't doubt it until the argument." Owen replied.

Kovick smiled as he said, "I'm sure he'll take you back if you both really do love each other."

"I hope he at least still thinks of me... It's been about a year since I last saw him after all." Owen said.

"I'm sure he still thinks of you." Kovick assured him.

Owen smiled a little before saying, "Yeah... You're probably right. Err, thanks for listening to all this crap."

"I'm sure you'd do the same for me." Kovick said to him.

Owen nodded before saying, "Of course I would."

Kovick and Owen stayed awake for a little longer before finally deciding to get some sleep. Louis and Reaper did the same, but Tobias stayed awake. He looked out to the sandy landscape, and saw something moving in the distance.

* * *

**Author's notes: Okay I'd like to thank everyone who read, reviewed and all that stuff and I'd like to thank the usual suspects, Hironada, Infinity Warrior and BigBossSonic. Will try and get the next one out sooner!**


	39. Getting intimate

Tobias couldn't quite make out what it was from his position, but he could tell that it was small and wasn't human. He reached into one of his pockets and took out a sniper scope, which reminded him that he should have probably asked for his suitcase back from Owen, but it was a little too late for that now, and unnecessary.  
He observed the creature through his scope for a few seconds before putting it away back into his pocket.  
The creature he saw wasn't hostile, just a Sandshrew, a young one from the looks of it too.  
He ignored it, after he knew what it was and just continued to look out to the landscape. He couldn't understand how the others could sleep considering who they were going after. He stayed awake throughout the rest of the night; he guessed he could just take a nap sometime during the day when everyone else is awake.

The sun rose and everyone but Bruce was awake. Kiara had woken up pretty early so she guessed that no one was around to see her sleeping next to Bruce. Owen was now in his car, talking to Rhea. "What do you think our next move should be? Find out where Silas is?" he asked her.

"We know where Silas is, so that won't be a problem. But we still need more people to join us in this mission." Rhea stated.

"I don't understand, we already have more than enough people. It's not like we're just a small team, we've got the armed forces of Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh and Hoenn on our side." Owen quickly reminded her.

"We know, but there is still the chance that Silas and his men could hold off everyone. That and Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh and Hoenn won't just send all their men after him, they still need some people to stay behind to remain in control." Rhea replied, in a dullish voice.

"You mean they just don't want to go after him just in case their forces take too much of a beating and become weaker compared to the other regions, right?" the male agent questioned.

"Basically, yes." Rhea answered with a sigh.

"But Silas is going to end up launching an attack on them sooner or later anyway, why don't they just bomb him if we already know where he is?" Owen inquired.

"We can't, too many innocent people would be killed and none of the regions want to look like the bad guys to their people. Besides, by the time the decision to bomb the place would go through, Silas would be long gone. He always knows when we're planning something big." Rhea told him.

"Then how will launching a full on attack be any different? Won't he just go into hiding?" Owen questioned.

"Maybe, but if the attack is successful, it'll make Silas look weaker and his supporters would think twice about working with or for him. He'll lose a lot of respect and resources if we're successful." Rhea responded.

"You said that if we bomb them, we could also end up killing innocent people. Does that mean he is hiding in a city or near one?" Owen curiously stated.

"No, he's currently on an island, but that island also has a disused prison. One which Silas is now using to keep his slaves. We don't know exactly how many slaves are there, but the agents that have seen that place say there's like an entire city worth of people in there." she told him.

"So when we go after Silas, we'll try to free the slaves, right?" he asked.

"You'll be going in to take out Silas, someone else will be sent in to free the slaves. But if your search for Silas takes you through the prison, then it would be a good idea to free them. Oh, and how much room have you got in that car of yours now?" Rhea asked.

"I've got two more seats left upfront; you haven't got more dossiers for me now have you?" Owen questioned.

"No, not yet at least." The female voice replied.

"Alright then, contact me when the agency needs us. The team is ready and I want to see what they can do." Owen said with a smile.

"We'll contact you with any new info, talk to you later." Rhea stated one last time before her voice crackled out.

Almost as soon as Owen's conversation with Rhea ended, he heard someone tapping on the driver's side window. He then looked through it and could easily tell that it was Tobias even though he couldn't see his face from his position, he could still tell by the suit he wore. Owen got out of the car and questioned, "Need something?"

"When are we leaving?" Tobias asked.

"Soon, is everyone up?" Owen replied.

"Soon isn't soon enough, and I think everyone is up except for the drunk dude you've for some unfathomable reason decided to put in your team." Tobias stated with a vague hint of anger in his voice.

Owen looked over to Bruce who was still passed out on the sand before looking back to Tobias and saying, "We'll leave as fast as we can, alright?"

"Where are we heading?" Tobias quickly asked.

"I'm waiting on the agency to give me orders, but meanwhile we'll pack up our gear and find a different spot to stay for the night further up north. I don't know about you but I'm starting to miss trees." Owen replied.

"I don't." Tobias flatly responded before walking away from Owen.

Owen really didn't know what to make of Tobias, all he knew about him that he is good at what he does, and that he's definitely not the social type. He didn't want him to complain, so Owen then walked over to Kiara and asked, "Can you wake Bruce up for me?"

"Why do I have to wake him up?" Kiara asked as she frowned.

"Because he's armed and probably has a hangover. I don't want to get on his bad side." Owen stated.

"Fine, I'll get his stupid ass up." Kiara groaned as she began walking over to Bruce. "Hey, drunky!" she shouted in front of his face.

Bruce groaned a little as he brought his hands up to his face. "For fuck sake ice rat, don't shout." he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes slightly.

"We're going now, so get your drunken ass up before we leave you behind." Kiara threatened before she walked away.

The team was all now in the car, driving through a massive city which they assumed was Nimbasa City. Everyone in the car was awake, with the exception of Tobias who was now asleep.  
Many hours later, after the sun had set, they had now set up their campsite in the snowy woods somewhere in the north of Unova. They had got a campfire going and set up their tents. Richard, Tera, Owen and Kovick were all sitting around it as they talked with each other. Louis fell asleep early, leaving Reaper with nothing much to do, but then he noticed Tobias.  
Reaper had noticed how Tobias stayed away from the rest of the group, he knew why Louis acted in the same way, but he didn't know what Tobias' reason was. He then walked over to the gray haired man that then looked over to him.  
"Hey." Reaper begun. "Why don't you hang out with the others and get to know the team a little?" he asked.

Tobias was glad he had his earpiece on; it would be awkward talking to the Scyther when all he could hear from it is its species name. "Because someone has to stay alert. How can everyone sleep around here knowing who we're going after?" Tobias questioned.

The Scyther shrugged before saying, "Well, I don't get much sleep myself. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night thinking I heard a noise which I then always check out. I think Owen also keeps a look out for us too. I've seen him awake a few times when I get up late at night."

"Having just one or two people up is not enough, at least half of the team should be awake during the night and sleep during the day when we travel." Tobias stated.

"Maybe you should talk to Richard or Owen about that, they're kind of our leaders." Reaper told him.

"I will." Tobias replied.

"My name is Reaper by the way." he told him.

"Well, nice to meet you." Tobias replied as he continued to look to the forest around him.

Reaper could tell that Tobias wasn't a big fan of conversation, but he still tried to start one up with him. "So, how old are you if you don't mind me asking?" Reaper asked him.

Tobias wouldn't normally answer that question for many people, but he could tell that Reaper wasn't exactly young himself. "One year short of being half way to a hundred." Tobias responded.

"49? So I might not be the oldest of the group then." Reaper replied with a chuckle.

"Might not be? Are you unsure of your age?" Tobias inquired; he knew it wasn't unusual for wild Pokémon to not know their own age.

"I know I'm like around forty-ish or fifty-ish, but I don't really know. I also don't know when my birthday is if that's what you're wondering." Reaper told him, with what looked to be a smile.

"Not knowing your birthday isn't exactly a bad thing." The human replied, not looking too happy.

Reaper didn't know what he meant by that, but he wanted to keep this conversation going. "Why did you agree to come on this mission?" Reaper asked him.

"Because it's my job." Tobias flatly replied.

"Oh... Well, why did you become... What do you work as anyway?" Reaper asked him.

"A hired killer, but we prefer to be called agents." Tobias stated as he continued to look out to the empty, and almost lifeless forest.

Reaper could clearly see that Tobias had no interest in talking, so he gave up. "I'll probably be up all the way through the night, if you want to talk I'll be near that tent over there." he finished as he began walking away. Tobias didn't reply, he just kept looking at the forest around him.

Meanwhile, Bruce and Kiara were now in the forest, both being intoxicated.  
He sat down with his back against a tree, with a bottle of vodka in one hand. Kiara was in between Bruce's legs, with her back against him. Bruce and Kiara chuckled and giggled over nothing much as they drank from the same bottle.  
Eventually the vodka ran out, and they were both tired.

Bruce threw the bottle over to one side and tried to get up, without much success. "Ahh, fuck it!" he said as he gave up on moving from his spot.

"Too drunk to get off your ass?" The drunken Glaceon asked, her speech slightly slurred.

"Not too drunk!... Too... Can't be... Don't give a shit." Bruce finally stated, chuckling.

"Sleeping with me again?" Kiara asked as she looked back up at Bruce with her big emerald green eyes.

"Yeah." Bruce replied, not caring.

"Good... I have something softer to sleep on." Kiara stated as she shifted slightly, but still resting back on Bruce.

"I don't care, you cute little rat..." Bruce said to her as he stroked the fur on Kiara's side, not being able to stop himself from saying those words or stroking her fur. The alcohol was doing most of the thinking for the both of them right now.

"The drunkard thinks I'm cute?" Kiara mumbled as she looked back up at him with a small smile on her face.

"Oh yeah, you're pretty damn cute." Bruce told her as he then stroked over her stomach, and felt something.  
Kiara gasped slightly as she felt Bruce's hands stroke over two of her six small nipples.  
She was going to shout at him, but she didn't, she really didn't want to stop him. Bruce soon realized what he was touching, he swore to himself inside his own head and was about to pull his hand away. But then he noticed how Kiara said nothing, so he continued to stroke her stomach, touching her little nipples.  
Kiara rested her head back on Bruce's body as she felt a strange sense of erotic satisfaction overcome her, causing a small moan to escape her lips. Bruce heard that small moan, and then stroked a little lower, getting closer to Kiara's nether regions.  
Suddenly, Bruce stopped stroking as he thought to himself, 'Fucking hell Bruce stop it... She'll fucking castrate me when she sobers up... And when I sober up.'

Kiara didn't say or do anything, but she secretly wanted him to keep stroking her. Bruce didn't like the sudden awkward silence, but he also couldn't think of anything to say that would make this moment seem less awkward.  
They both just sat there quietly, Bruce's hands still on Kiara's stomach, they both stayed there, slowly falling into a drunken sleep. The morning seemed eventful for the two.

* * *

**Author's notes: Hehe, I know a few people who will be happy with this chapter ^^ Anyway, thanking Infinity Warrior and Hironada for editing this chapter and also thanking the readers! :D**


	40. A new problem

It was still dark, everybody had gone into their tents, with the exception of Tobias and Reaper who kept watch during the night, and Owen who was now struggling to get to sleep in the heavily armored car.

He had his eyes closed, but he was not asleep, he just couldn't get comfortable enough. He didn't know why, but he felt odd, that's when he heard the sigh of a man in one of the backseats of the car. He quickly opened his eyes, looking into the rear view mirror to see a dark figure, he couldn't make out any of his facial features, except that he had hair.

"Who are you?" Owen quickly questioned without turning around and as his hand reached for his holstered gun on his thigh. As he peered into the rear view mirror, he saw the dark figure lean in a little, that's when he took the opportunity to pull his pistol out of his holster and quickly turn around, but all he saw behind him were empty seats.

"Shit..." Owen silently cursed to himself as he quickly realized what just happened. He holstered his pistol and rubbed his eyes a little, thinking that he was going crazy. He then thought that his hallucinations had faded, but they've recently resurfaced and they've become more frequent.

No reason was put up why they suddenly resurfaced after so long, but he guessed that it had something to do with the break up between himself and Chase. But Owen didn't want to think about that right now, all he wanted to do was get some sleep and continue on with the mission.

The sun started to rise and Kiara awoke first, slowly opening her eyes to find she was resting with her back against Bruce, who's hand was still on her stomach. Her eyes widened as she remembered the night before, and quickly got off Bruce. She could see him starting to wake, she didn't know if she should stick around and confront him about what happened, or just walk away to avoid the awkwardness and embarrassment.

Bruce opened his eyes, but could not see Kiara. He quickly remembered last night and stood up to find himself with a headache. He couldn't help but think what Kiara would say to him when he walked back into camp, not to mention the long ride in that car. He walked back to camp slowly, dreading what Kiara would say.

Richard was sitting with Tera by the burnt out fire when he noticed Kiara walking over to them. "Hey, where did you go with Bruce last night?" he curiously asked.

"Err, we just drank." Kiara replied a little too suspiciously.

Tera smiled as she stated, "Don't drink too much or you'll end up like Bruce."

"Annoying, foul mouthed and incredibly irritating?" Kiara replied as the thought, 'And sexy.' came into mind.

Richard chuckled as he asked, "Why do you two hang around each other if you hate each other?"

"I don't know, I guess it's just entertaining seeing him so angry." Kiara responded with a smile on her face.

Tera giggled before she teased, "You two can't stop yourselves from annoying each other. It's quite cute."

Kiara's ears quickly perked up. 'Cute?' she thought to herself before putting on a convincing confused expression and saying, "W-What makes you say that?"

Tera quickly realized what she had just said aloud, and she didn't mean to say that, but she just thought it and the words came out of her mouth.

"Oh, err... Nothing." Tera replied with an innocent smile on her face.

Richard decided to quickly butt into the conversation before things got awkward. "We should really pack away our stuff now, we'll be moving out soon." he told them.

Owen was now resting his back against one of the doors to the car, looking out to the others as he talked to Rhea. "Any orders from agency?" he tiredly asked.

"No." Rhea replied.

"Oh... How about now?" Owen inquired with a small smile on his face.

"Nope, just relax with your team until your orders arrive." Rhea told him.

"You told me I've got Asher to worry about, and it's been a while since we saw any of Silas' men. It feels like they're just waiting for the right time to take us out. I can't just relax." Owen replied, patting his foot constantly on the ground.

"Sounds like you're stressed, well, I can't blame you. I'd be stressed too in your position, but I still don't see why you're so eager for orders." Rhea replied, with a bit of emphasis at the beginning.

"Because the sooner I get some orders, then the sooner we can get rid of Silas and end this mission." Owen firmly stated. They both knew why he was so eager to finish the mission.

Rhea sighed before telling him, "As soon as I get some orders for you, I'll tell you. Just be careful."

"I always am." Owen finalized as the conversation between them ended and saw Tobias walking over to him.

"Any orders, or are we just standing around waiting to get shot?" Tobais asked, clearly not happy with how the mission was going.

"Nothing yet. We'll move out now and find our next spot, preferably somewhere to the north east." Owen stated, pointing in the general direction.

"Keep moving and setting up camp... Right..." Tobias said disapprovingly.

Owen could see that Tobias didn't like the plan, but he had a feeling he'd piss off a lot more teammates by doing things Tobias' way. "You might not like it and neither do I, but I believe it's our best option." Owen replied, trying to put things in more of a general perspective.

"Fine, just tell me when everyone's ready to move out." Tobias stated, walking away.

Owen sighed and then looked over to Kovick who was now heading towards him. "Hey, we're moving out." Owen told him.

"I heard, that guy didn't look too happy by the way." Kovick replied, referring to Tobias.

"He's not a big talker, but that's not really a bad thing." Owen responded as he thought, 'I wish he would talk less though.'

Kovick chuckled a little before saying, "Have a nice polite conversation with him did you?"

"If by polite, you mean uncomfortable, then yes. You should pack up your stuff, we're heading out now." Owen stated.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Kovick told him before walking off.

A few minutes later, Bruce finally decided to go back to camp. He looked around to see Kiara getting into the car with Richard and Tera. Kovick, Louis and Reaper were just packing their stuff away. 'This is going to fucking suck.' Bruce thought to himself as he began wondering what Kiara would say when he got into the car.

A few minutes later, everyone was now in the car and much to Bruce's surprise, Kiara hadn't said a word to him. She didn't even really look at him. He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. A few hours passed, and now they were driving in some city. The streets were empty and many of the buildings were boarded up. It was obvious that this was a very bad area to be in.

Bruce looked out of the window and said aloud, "Wow, and I thought Kanto was a shit hole."

Louis then replied, "Kanto isn't that bad; there are some good things about it."

Kovick restrained himself as he thought, 'Yeah, if you think being taunted, beaten or split up from your family just because one of your parents is a Pokemon. Or if you fall in love with one, is a good thing.'

Bruce shook his head. "There's only one reason I moved to Kanto, and it wasn't the polite company consisting of those uptight fuck-wits on every street or the shitty laws they've got over there." he spat as he suddenly realized something. 'I'm thinking too much, I need more booze.' he thought to himself as he began searching around one of his backpacks.

Reaper had what appeared to be a confused look on his face before asking Bruce, "Why did you move to Kanto then?"

"Because..." Bruce began as he took out a bottle of whiskey. "Kanto were the only ones going to war with Silas, everyone else was just sitting on the sidelines. So I moved to Kanto, joined up and started fighting."

Tera then asked Bruce, "Why did you want to fight Silas?"

"I was bored, I needed cash too. Kanto's soldiers were getting slaughtered so there were a few job openings. It was fun anyway, getting good exercise whilst dodging bullets and taking quick showers whenever a guy got his head shot off near me." Bruce replied cheerfully as he drank a little of his whiskey.

Suddenly, Owen hit the breaks as a large off-roading car skidded in front of them. When the car came to a stop, Bruce spilled a little bit of his drink over himself which pissed him off. Richard heard a car skidding to a stop behind them, and instantly knew what was going on.

He glanced at Tera who had a confused look on her face before looking over to Owen. "Drive through them!" Richard shouted as Owen saw men armed with assault rifles wearing plain clothes coming out of the car in front of them.

Owen did as Richard said and put his foot down on the accelerator, making the car speed into the one in front of them as the men fired and scattered moments before the heavily armored car he now drove slammed into the off-roader. The impact shook everyone inside the car, despite being heavily armored, it took some force to budge that other car.

The men with the assault rifles shot at the heavily armored car as it drove away, leaving the off-roader dented and smashed up. Bruce couldn't help but laugh and shout, "Dumb fucks shouldn't get in our way!"

Tera wondered why Bruce liked violence so much. In a way, that reminded her of Kiara.

Bruce soon stopped laughing as he looked out of the window to the side, to see a similar off-roading car charging towards them at great speed down an empty street. Bruce shouted out the first word that came to his mind. "Shit!" he cussed.

The off-roader slammed into the side of the car, hitting its rear causing Owen's car to spin before mounting the sidewalk and hitting a wall with its left side. Owen quickly slammed his foot down on the accelerator and drove back onto the the long road, leaving the attackers behind, for a few seconds.

Tobias didn't talk much, but he felt like he should say something before the entire team gets killed. "Get off this damn road or they will kill us." he calmly commanded Owen.

Owen knew Tobias was right, so he quickly skidded into another street. This time, this street had normal people driving normal cars, but he doubted that would matter to their pursuers.

Bruce looked to Tobias and asked, "Who the fuck are they anyway!"

"How should I know?" Tobias responded with an agitated look on his face.

Kovick looked out of the window that was smashed out to see there were still two black four door cars following them. "They're still after us!" Kovick quickly warned the others.

Bruce looked to Kovick before angrily shouting, "Fucking shoot them then!"

Almost as soon as Bruce said that, bullets could be heard impacting on the car's armor. Kovick shook his head and said, "I'd rather keep my head attached to my neck today!"

"Pussy!" Bruce mocked him as he put his shotgun to one side and grabbed his pistol.

Kiara smirked as she said, "I think that gun is too small to do the job Bruce!"

Bruce turned his head to Kiara and shouted, "Go fuck yourself ice bitch!"

"Why fuck myself when I know you would do that for me?" Kiara replied with a devious grin on her face.

Bruce had a shocked look on his face, fortunately the others were too focused on the people shooting at them. "What the fuck do you mean by that?" Bruce angrily questioned.

Kiara was about to answer but quickly got distracted by the loud sound of Richard's MP5 sub-machine gun spraying bullets out of the window and towards the cars perusing them. Richard leaned back into the car, he didn't know if any of the shots hit any of the people perusing them but at least he was doing something. Moments later, everyone in the car heard a big crash behind them.

Louis quickly looked out to see one of the cars perusing them had crashed into another car, one that didn't belong to the people chasing them. He could only hope that the people inside the other car were still alive.

"Where are the police when we need them!" Louis thought out loud.

Bruce just sighed and insulted, "Don't rely on the police, they're useless fucks!"

Richard didn't bother to point out that both Tera and himself are deputies. "Is now the time to be seriously talking about this?" he replied before Owen sharply turned into another street, almost mounting the side walk again.

Tobais just sat there, thinking what their best option would be. "How many cars are chasing us now?" he asked.

Bruce looked at Tobias and questioned, "I don't know, how about you stick your head out of the window and check?"

Owen looked in his side view mirror. "I can't see any of them... They must have headed back." he replied.

"Hah! Pussies." Bruce spat as he put away his pistol and drank some whiskey.

Owen could hear police sirens closing in on their position, no doubt they were coming to check out the gunshots and the crashes. He didn't think those men that had fired on them were vipers, and that made him think, who else wants them dead.

"This is going to be a long day." Owen began as he stopped the car while the police cars came into view.

* * *

**Author's notes: Sorry this chapter too so long to upload, I was going to post it yesterday but then I kinda got sidetracked. :(**

**But anyway, I'd like to thank Hironada and Infinity Warrior for editing this and also my awesome readers! :D Hope you enjoyed this chapter!... OH CRAP! I almost forgot, two people also did a sorta comic cover for the first chapter of my story, I'll link it below. The artists are Hunter and Mitchell.**

**... Wait, I can't link it up? WHAT THE FUCK! Nevermind, you can now find it in my profile!**


	41. Standoff

A few cop cars rushed past them, along with an ambulance. Four cop cars stopped in front of Owen's car, and as soon as Owen saw the cops get out of their cars, he pressed the small button on his earpiece and stated, "Rhea, we need some help over here."

Richard heard one of the cops shout over, "Throw out any weapons you have and get out of the car!" Richard really didn't like the sound of that. He guessed Tobias didn't either by the look on his face as he looked down to the suitcase he brought along with him.

Rhea soon answered him. "What is it?" she asked.

"The police are pointing their guns at us right now after escaping a group trying to kill us, tell them to stand down right now!" Owen ordered.

"On it." Rhea responded.

Again, one of the officers shouted, "Get out of the car now and drop your guns!"

Bruce just growled to himself a little as he cursed, "Demanding little fuckers aren't they?"

Owen looked back to everyone in the car.

"Everyone stay inside the car, I'm going to get out and explain our situation to these guys." he stated before getting out of the car with both of his hands up. He noticed there were six police officers and three cars in front of him.

All of them male, armed and aiming their guns at him, except for the one that was now on his radio to someone. 'I hope they've got their safeties on,' Owen thought.

Immediately, one of the officers began shouting. "Get down on the ground!" the officer demanded.

"You don't seem to understand, my name is Owen, an agent here, assigned to take down Silas." he told them.

By the look on the officer's face and the way they all looked at him, they either didn't believe him or didn't care. "You're still going to have to do what we say. Get down on the ground." the same officer firmly told him.

"Officer, that wouldn't be a good..." Owen was cut off by the officer who then barked more orders at him.

"I said get down on the ground!" he repeated.

Owen was losing his patience with him. "Your boss is going to have about a thousand different reasons to fire you, if you don't listen to me." he warned him as he looked at that officer who looked like he was having a very long conversation through his radio.

'I really hope Rhea is talking to him through that.' The agent's voice begged in his mind.

Again, the police officer yelled, "I said, get, down, on, the, ground!"

"And I say you listen to me or things will go very badly for you." Owen angrily replied, now clearly unhappy with how the police officer was speaking to him.

The officer was about to shout something until he was interrupted by the officer that was on the radio.

"Sir, stand down! He's telling the truth, he's an agent, they're clear to pass and keep their weapons!" the officer with the radio informed him. Suddenly the officer that had been shouting at Owen didn't look as aggressive, and tried to apologize. "I'm sorry, but we had reports of gunshots from your car and..."

The officer was then cut off by Owen. "It's okay, I'll try to convince your superiors not to screw you over too much when you get back to the station." he joked with a slight smirk on his face.

The officer just nodded with a sorry look on his face as he walked back to his car.

Owen said nothing else, then walked back to his car, he wanted to give that cop more paperwork; more than anyone else has ever had to deal with, although he was just doing his job, quite poorly he added to himself. He then climbed back into the driver's seat of his car when he heard Bruce's voice.

"Good job." Bruce said, without any tone in his voice.

"Err, it was nothing." Owen responded, guessing that Bruce was talking about how he dealt with that cop.

"How did you stop yourself from breaking that cop's nose? He was a massive twat!" Bruce replied, almost jumping out of his chair.

"I'd prefer not to get into trouble with the law; especially since I am a part of it." Owen stated as he started driving the car again, driving past the police cars.

Bruce fell silent, until something hit him. "Hey, we should meet up with that strange guy with the guns. We need more ammo and guns if we wanna keep killing." he said.

Kiara then looked at him with a confused expression on her face. "You've got that shotgun, that smaller gun and a big knife thing, do you really need more weapons?" Kiara questioned him, giving him a strange look..

"I don't have anything that'll go bang and blow up some of Silas' shits so yeah, I need more weapons." Bruce replied, chuckling.

"How do you carry around all your stuff anyway? All that booze, guns and stuff." Kiara asked, curiously.

"It's easy, you just have to have some strength." Bruce responded, looking at her.

A devious idea came to Kiara's mind, then she snappily remarked with a smirk, "That's not what I mean. I mean, how do you have enough braincells to pick up anything after all the drinking you do?"

"Go fuck... Ah just piss off!" he cursed. The alcoholic agent was about to say something else, but he knew she'd twist his words against him.

"Go fuck... What?" Kiara asked with that smirk remaining in her face.

"Go hump a live grenade ice bitch!" Bruce quickly insulted her.

Kiara saw another opportunity to make Bruce blush, or at least try. "By the way you always look at me, I would've thought you'd prefer for me to hump you." Kiara teased him with that devilishly cute grin.

"If you smirk any more, your cheeks will split." Bruce replied, keeping his cool and smiling slightly as he began thinking of humping her, hard. He was getting an erection, but he quickly hid it.

Kiara was a little annoyed she didn't get him to blush, but she did pick up on that small smile of his. "I bet you're thinking of humping me right now!" Kiara replied with a small giggle.

'Is she a fucking mind reader now?' Bruce thought to himself as he remarked, "Only in your horny cold wet dreams ice queen."

Kiara wanted to make him blush and embarrass him, so she did what she thought would make him blush. It might have been uncalled for but it would sure be interesting. Everyone in the car with the, exception of Owen who was not in the back, looked on as Kiara got out of her seat and jumped onto Bruce's lap, bringing her face to his as she smiled and whispered, "I know you were thinking of me when you were "taking care" of yourself."

Bruce looked at her, with both disgust and a sense of lust. He stared into her big beautiful emerald green eyes, for a moment before he realized that everyone in the car was looking at them. It was possible that one or more people heard what she whispered to him. "Go take care of your self, fuck off."

Bruce's words were harsh, but Kiara smiled anyway as she was rewarded with that pinkish tint on his cheeks. "You're blushing." Kiara proudly giggled as she jumped off Bruce and back on to her seat.

"Fucking not!" Bruce quickly defended himself, although it was clear he was lying as he pretended to rummage through one of his backpacks whilst looking down to hide his blush.

Richard thought it was quite funny how they both pissed each other off when it was clear as to how they really felt. He didn't want to point that out though, it was too entertaining. But he guessed he should butt in to calm the both of them down. "You two act as if you're not even mildly worried about the people that just tried to kill us. Are you?" Richard rhetorically asked to them.

Both Bruce and Kiara looked at Richard and stated in unison, "I'm not."

"Ok then... Owen, what's the plan?" Richard asked him, propping himself up and looking at Owen's direction, to avoid any more awkwardness from the two.

"We're still waiting on proper orders, we could find out who attacked us to try and dig up some new leads and clean up this city." Owen suggested, plainly.

"Good idea, we'll get out of the city tonight and come back in the morning, they probably won't be expecting us to come back so soon." Richard stated, with a sternness in his voice.

"What if the trail goes cold by then?" Owen asked, turning his head for a moment, then looking back at the road.

"It won't, those men were clearly gang members. At least one police officer or witness will know which gang they belong to, although we may have to loosen their tongues." Richard told him, from an instinct.

"If you think that's the best option, then okay." Owen replied as he began driving for the nearest exit.

Richard sat back and relaxed, holding and stroking Tera's paw as he looked back to her. Tera smiled, she just wanted to hold him and kiss him, but she didn't feel comfortable doing that around people she didn't know so well, especially Louis.

As Richard looked into Tera's eyes, his mind flicked back to Kovick's words, on how it was possible for them both to have a child. He couldn't hide it from himself, he was a more than a little worried to think that there was the possibility for her to be pregnant, yet not know it.

It wasn't that long ago they had sex, he knew Pokémon lay eggs, but he didn't know how long a Pokémon could stay pregnant for.

Months?

Days?

Years?

He didn't even know if him being a human would change anything about their child, he guessed not, but he still wasn't sure. He knew he'd be asking Kovick a lot of questions when they next set up camp. He wanted to know everything so he could be ready to become a father, when the mission is over.

Time passed, and it was almost midnight. Camp had been set up in a cold snowy area in a forest. Everyone was more alert because of the recent attack on them. Richard noticed that Bruce was alert too, he had only drunk half a bottle of vodka tonight so far.

Bruce was sitting around the campfire with Kiara.

Kovick and Owen were doing the same except they were talking to each other, not insulting each other.

Tobias was nowhere to be seen, but Richard guessed that was because he was still keeping watch, making sure no one crept up on them in the middle of the night. Reaper and Louis were secluded from the rest of the group as usual, chatting by their tent.

Richard wanted to ask Kovick some questions, but he didn't want to pull him away from his conversation with Owen and draw attention to himself. He felt a little stupid, he guessed that the question he was about to ask was common knowledge to most people, except maybe those that live in Kanto. He needed to know that Tera would be okay to fight.

He was going to ask.

Richard kissed Tera on her cheek before saying, "I'm just going to talk to Kovick, I'll be back soon."

Tera nodded in response as she watched Richard get up and walk over to Kovick.

When Richard reached Kovick, he asked, "Hey, can I talk to you about something in private?"

Kovick looked up to Richard before replying , "Err, sure."

Richard walked away from the others as Kovick got up and followed him. Richard then turned around and quite cautiously asked, "Do you... Think there may be the possibility that Tera is pregnant?"

Kovick was a little surprised at the question and quickly answered, "Err, it depends. How long has it been since you and Tera... you know."

"About a week ago." Richard answered.

"Has there been any changes in her personality? Unexplained nausea?" Kovick inquired.

"No, at least I don't think so." Richard replied.

Kovick smiled before saying, "Then you don't have to worry about Tera running around the battlefield with an egg inside her anytime soon. If it takes a while for you both to conceive a child, don't be surprised. Human and Lucario biology is different in many ways, it may take some time for even the most fertile human or Pokémon. Err, I also suggest you pick up some condoms if those urges arise during the mission."

Richard smiled nervously a little before stating, "Right, I will. Oh, and how long would Tera be pregnant for when we are successful?"

"It varies for some Pokémon, not by a lot though. Usually its about the same time as a human pregnancy, around about the nine months mark, give or take a few weeks. It could be longer, or shorter, I'm not sure. The only other Lucario I've seen was male and back at the army." Kovick told him, nervously.

"Thanks for telling me all this." Richard thanked him, with a smile.

"You're welcome, just invite me and Aneko to your wedding." Kovick replied with a smirk, and a slight chuckle.

Richard chuckled a little before saying, "I will Kovick, just return the favor if you two tie the knot."

Kovick began walking back with Richard to the campfire. "I'll happily invite you two, I just hope that I really do get with Aneko." Kovick uneasily replied, doubting that would actually happen.

"I'm sure you will." Richard confidently implied.

Bruce was now in the forest, taking a piss. "Ahhh, that's better." Bruce quietly whispered to himself with a small smile on his face. As he was doing this, he heard something move around very slightly behind him. He looked behind himself, but saw nothing.

'Ah shit! If I have to fight with my pants down, I'm not gonna be happy.' he thought to himself as he stopped pissing, gave it a few shakes and tucked it back into his pants as he zipped up his fly, all whilst looking around himself.

Bruce heard something shifting around behind a tree to his right, so he quietly took out his pistol, and quietly made his way to the tree.

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, you know what's coming up right? I wanna thank my editors, hironada, BigBossSonic and Infinity Warrior for correcting stuff and adding stuff to this chapter! Oh, and also the readers, you people are awesome!**


	42. Movement

Bruce took small steps when approaching the tree, until he was about three feet away from it, at which point he quickly took a few steps to the side before ducking, expecting to find someone there, but only finding the other side of the tree, and nothing more.

"Mother fucker..." Bruce quietly swore to himself, keeping his weapon drawn just in case. Just as soon as Bruce started to calm down, he heard a noise, movement coming from behind a tree to his right. Bruce quickly took cover behind the tree he previously thought someone was hiding behind and shouted, "Fucking come out now or I'll fucking blow your brains out!"

There was no response, for a few seconds everything was totally silent, until Bruce broke that silence by firing three rounds into the tree he heard movement behind. Almost as soon as he did this, he heard something running away, it didn't sound like a human, something lighter than that, but that didn't stop Bruce from firing another five rounds in the direction that he had heard the creature fleeing.

"Get back here you cowardly cunt!" he shouted sprinting a short distance to take cover behind another tree before realizing it probably wasn't a good idea to chase down whatever it was that was watching him without backup. Even if it didn't sound heavy, it could still be deadly.

He quickly pressed a button on his earpiece which allowed him to communicate with all the other humans on the team using the earpieces.

"I've got some fucking movement here!" he shouted loud enough that he could be heard even if he didn't have the earpiece.

Everyone back at camp heard the gunshots, Owen, Tobias, Richard and Tera all began running towards Bruce's position where as the rest stayed behind and held their position, in order to keep their camp and transportation secure.

Meanwhile, Kiara was now out of breath, her fur still standing on end slightly from the shock "I-I can't believe he shot at me!" she exclaimed to herself as she began wondering how she could make her way back towards camp without getting shot at.

'I guess that's the last time I peek at Bruce. Why was I even trying to get another look? That was a stupid idea!' she scolded herself in her mind. She knew why she was trying to get another look at Bruce's private parts, she just really didn't want to admit it to herself.

She couldn't believe she was falling for someone who had tried to kill her on multiple occasions, someone who she had wanted to freeze to death when she had first met him, and more importantly, someone who was probably more flammable than petrol.

'Why the fuck do I like him so much!' she contemplated before going back to worrying about getting shot at again. 'Shit! Shit! Shit! Okay... Just walk back into camp and act casual... shit.' Kiara thought to herself before walking back to camp, slowly and carefully.

Meanwhile, Bruce was now shouting at Richard, Owen, Tera and Tobias. "I fucking know I saw movement! I shot at the fucker and it ran off!" he yelled, pointing his shotgun in that direction

Tera then quickly interrupted. "It could have been a wild Pokemon, or even you could've hit an innocent person!" she exclaimed.

"It was taking cover behind trees! It wasn't a fucking animal and if it wasn't a hostile Pokémon, why was it fucking hiding and watching me!" Bruce angrily shouted, staring at Tera.

Richard then quickly defended Tera's argument, standing in front of her. "Imagine what a wild Pokémon would be thinking seeing a human standing around in a forest with a pistol, if I was one I'd be hiding too." he replied, using hand motions.

"I don't like things watching me take a piss!" Bruce yelled, looking angry.

Richard shook his head before asking, "Which way did it run?"

"That way." Bruce stated, pointing into the direction which he shot yet again.

Both Richard and Tera walked over to where Bruce pointed.

Tera didn't know where Richard was going, she just followed him to make sure he was safe. As Richard approached a tree with a few bullets lodged into it, he looked down to the snow and noticed something, tracks.

He knelt down in the stow to take a closer look, from the looks of it, the thing watching Bruce was four legged and not very big.

Only one friendly culprit came to mind, but he didn't dare say, he just got up and looked back to Tera. "Whatever was watching Bruce probably wasn't hostile, but just keep your eyes open just in case." he said.

Tera looked at Richard with a concerned look on her face as she asked, "Do you think we're in danger?"

"As long as we're going after Silas, I think we'll always be in danger. But I don't think we have anything to worry about tonight, I'll be by your side all night." Richard told her; the last part to put her mind at ease, as he didn't want her worrying too much.

Tera smiled at Richard as she playfully said, "I can take care of myself you know."

Richard chuckled a little before stating, "I know you're strong, you don't need me to stay safe, but that won't stop me from trying."

"You're stronger." Tera giggled, with an added blush.

Richard smiled as he replied, "You underestimate yourself, I bet you could easily take me down in our sparring sessions, if you didn't hold back so much."

"You hold back a lot too." Tera quickly pointed out.

"True, but that's because I don't want to hurt you so much, even if the pain is only temporary." Richard told her.

"And that's why I hold back too." Tera repeated with a soft smile on her face.

Richard then held out his hand, saying "Come on, lets go back to camp."

Tera placed her paw in Richard's hand. "Okay, maybe later you can show me how strong you really are." Tera suggested in a shy yet seductive way.

Richard smiled when those words left her lips, but then he remembered Kovick's advice.

Then he quickly reminded himself just because they can't mate doesn't mean they can't have a little fun. "How about I show you right now?" Richard said to Tera as he led her back to camp whilst holding her paw in his hand.

Tera could feel her cheeks starting to heat up as she nodded and hurried back to camp with Richard, rushing back to their tent.

Kovick was now sitting by the campfire with his handgun drawn, Louis and Reaper were a little further away from him, by the tents and near the car, keeping watch. Kovick wondered what Bruce had seen, whatever he seen, it sounded like he was convinced that it was hostile, he must have been pretty sure if he shot at it.

Kovick kept and looking all around himself, around the tents and the trees surrounding them, and then he saw movement. Kovick quickly stood up but didn't aim his pistol, because he recognized what the source of the movement was. "Kiara!" Kovick shouted, waving his hand over to her as he walked towards the Glaceon.

"Hey." Kiara nonchalantly replied as she walked towards the blond-haired human.

"Do you know what's going on in the forest?" Kovick curiously asked her.

"I heard shooting and Bruce shouting, I just guessed he was trying to open up one of his bottles." Kiara joked as she smiled, almost as if she wasn't shot at a few minutes ago.

"I don't think that was Bruce trying to open up a bottle." Kovick began with a small chuckle. "So, what were you doing in the forest? Keeping watch again?"

'I've been keeping watch on Bruce very well.' she thought, and was about, "Err, yes! So, what have you been doing?"

"Me? Oh, just talking to Owen about family stuff." Kovick answered, looking out into the distance.

"Family stuff? Owen has a family? I mean, he still talks to family?" Kiara asked with a confused look on her face.

"I don't really know about that, he just sort of got me talking about my family." Kovick replied, directing his attention back to her.

As Kiara talked to Kovick, she began planning her excuse for spying on Bruce if someone found out it was her spying on him. She just hoped she wouldn't need an excuse any time soon. A few minutes later, Bruce and the others finally came back to camp.

Kiara was trying her hardest not to seem suspicious, but maybe she was trying too hard. She didn't know if she should make some snappy comment about his drinking problem or to just keep her mouth shut. She really didn't want him finding out it was her that was watching him.

Bruce now walked back over towards the campfire and sat down by it. He knew he saw something, he saw the prints in the snow, they looked like they were from a cat or a dog, but the prints were too messy to tell what they were really from. He guessed it was some kind of Pokémon because it was smart enough to use cover, but then he began thinking,

'What Pokémon would wanna watch me taking a piss?'

A few more minutes passed, and everything was settling down once more, although Tobias still kept alert. Owen, Kovick, Bruce and Kiara were now sitting by the campfire. Owen talked to Kovick to pass the time, although he knew the incident with Bruce probably wasn't a hostile encounter, he didn't want to take any chances. He wanted to stay alert until he was sure they were out of danger.

"So then, any brothers or sisters?" the agent asked Kovick, getting back to their previous conversation.

"Nope, I'm an only child. What about you?" Kovick curiously inquired, putting a hand to his chin.

"The same." Owen replied, laying back.

"What's your family like?" Kovick asked, wanting to know more about Owen. He didn't say much about his personal life at all.

"I'm not sure." Owen responded, sitting up again, and looking at the ground.

"You're not sure?" Kovick asked with a confused tone in his voice.

"It's a long story." Owen stated.

"And it sounds like we'll be on this mission a long time, come on, tell me." Kovick said to him.

Owen sighed once before saying, "Okay then. My father was an agent, like me. My mother was a soldier, so as you can imagine, she was quite strict. My father seemed to know everything about me despite nearly never seeing me, he was always too busy working, he was a workaholic."

Owen looked up and around slowly, continuing, "I didn't have much of a childhood; they were always too busy pushing me to do my best, sending me off to expensive schools that I never wanted to go to. On the plus side, I did get to meet interesting people, the down side was that I didn't really have time to get to know them because of the piles of work I got buried under."

"That sounds like too much responsibility for a child." Kovick responded, with a look of concern.

"It was, but I got used to it. Anyway, when I was around about nineteen, my mother died, lung cancer. My father died shortly after her, natural causes they say." Owen said in a less then happy way.

"You think he died some other way?" Kovick curiously asked.

"I don't think anyone killed him, not intentionally anyway. I just don't think he died of natural causes." Owen explained, rubbing his chin.

Kovick kind of regretted asking Owen about his family now. 'I should have known there was a reason he didn't want to bring up his family!' he thought to himself before saying, "Err, well, I'm sorry for your loss."

"It wasn't much of a loss. I hardly knew him." Owen flatly replied.

Kovick could clearly see that Owen resented his parents, it reminded him that he was lucky to have parents that care about him. "Do you have any other family members?" Kovick asked before quickly kicking himself in his mind for asking about Owen's family again, knowing the answer may not be a positive one.

"I'm not sure, I remember finding out that I did have some family in Sinnoh, but that was a while back. I don't know if they're still alive but I don't really feel the need to find them. They probably don't even know I exist anyway, it's best to keep things that way." Owen coldly replied, with a small frown on his face.

Kovick guessed in a way, Owen was right. He could imagine how awkward it would be, introducing himself to his own family that didn't even know that he existed. But then he began thinking, what if they do know he exists, and want to meet him? "What if they do know you exist and what if they do want to meet you?" Kovick questioned him.

"They can live without me, just like they always have done. I asked my contact, Rhea, to do some digging up on my family. Apparently I have an uncle and two cousins, but I don't feel the need to tell them I exist. It was like the rest of my family avoided my parents, or maybe they were just so busy they cut the rest of my family out of their lives and mine. Even at their funerals, the rest of my family was nowhere to be seen, just their friends and people they worked with." Owen replied as he looked into the flames of the campfire.

"That doesn't mean they don't want to meet you." Kovick told him.

"They might want to meet me, but I don't think they'd even like me if I did meet them. I looked up my family history, not once did any member of my family marry or have children with a Pokemon, they're rich, pure humans. I don't think they'd want me, a bisexual man in love with a Gallade, disgracing their rich perfect family." Owen replied with a sigh. "Even if they didn't care about that, I'd only put them in danger as long as I'm working as an agent." he added.

"Is that why your father wasn't around? Because he was afraid of putting you in danger?" Kovick asked him.

"That had crossed my mind, but... I just don't know." Owen responded as he started to stare at the ground.

Kovick could see depression in Owen's face, he couldn't help but feel like he made the agent suddenly feel like crap. "Cheer up, things will get better." Kovick optimistically told him.

"I hope they will." Owen said as he turned his attention back to the medic.

Kovick felt like saying what's the worst that could happen, but he already knew the answer to that wouldn't be a good one, so he just stayed quiet as he reached into his pocket and took out a chocolate bar that would've melted by now if it wasn't so cold.

Meanwhile, both Richard and Tera now lay on their sides, in their tent, facing each other, kissing.

They embraced each other tightly, lost in their own world as they explored each other's hot wet mouths with their tongues. Tera's paws were on the back of Richard's head, pulling him deeper into the kiss. His hands stroked her lower back, stroking a little lower with every second they spent holding the intimate kiss they shared. Together, they slowly pulled out of the kiss, giving each over several smaller kisses after doing so.

Richard now looked into Tera's perfect crimson eyes as he whispered to her, "If I could kiss you for an eternity, I would."

Tera smiled brightly as she suggested, "I wouldn't; I'd be too busy mating with you for an eternity."

Hearing that made Richard chuckle a little. "I'd like that a lot." he said with a smirk.

Tera responded by kissing Richard's cheek and quietly whispering, "I love you Richard."

"I love you too Tera." Richard happily replied as he kissed the top of Tera's head.

Tera quietly cuddled up to Richard, closing her eyes as a few words left her lips. "I wish we had more alone time together." he whispered into her ear.

"Lets make the most of our time now." Richard said before kissing her snout and gently placing his hands on her butt, causing her eyes to flutter open.

Tera smiled widely before pecking Richard's lips, and moving herself on top of him. Her eyes locked on to his as she felt Richard's fingers at her opening, rubbing it slowly, causing her to let out a few lustful whimpers before whispering, "L-let me make you feel good Richard..."

Richard could feel his cheeks heating up as he began blushing just at the sound of her sweet voice, completely forgetting what Kovick had told him not too long ago. "Only if you let me make you feel good." he whispered back to her.

Tera responded with a shy nod before getting off Richard and kneeling besides him as she began taking off his pants, with a little help from him with the belt. It didn't take long for her to fully strip Richard, exposing his hard member. They both lay on their sides as Tera licked the tip of Richard's manhood while he now rubbed the lips of her hot pussy.

Tera licked and lapped at her lover's cock with her wet Lucario tongue. She felt like taking his entire length deep into her throat, but she just took small licks of his tip instead, restraining herself for the time being as she felt Richard's fingers slowly being pushed into her cunt.

Richard pumped two fingers into Tera's wet slit as her amazing tongue licked over his tip repeatedly, causing him to let loose a pleasured sigh from his lips. He didn't want to just make her feel good, he wanted to make her feel amazing. He pulled out his fingers from her slit, now coated in her warm clear love fluid, and replaced them with his tongue.

Tera hummed slightly as she felt Richard's warm wet tongue, licking over her entire slit several times before quickly lapping at the top of her cunt. Small huffs could be heard from Tera as she felt her lover's tongue assault her sensitive clit, she felt tempted to squirm but she wanted Richard to keep licking, uninterrupted.

Suddenly, Richard let a small moan slip pass his lips as he felt Tera taking his tip into her mouth, and sucking on it hard. Slowly, he could feel the pressure building up inside him, wanting to unload into her mouth. He then licked back up and down her slit, causing her to suck a little harder before he worked his tongue into her tight fuck hole, feeling it clench at his tongue slightly the more he licked at her inner walls.

The air around them grew heavy with passion. Tera began breathing in and out a little more heavily now as she took more of her soul mate's length into her mouth, sucking and licking at it hard and fast, wanting to please her human lover as she felt something wet running down one of her thighs as that tingling feeling started to rise deep inside her. She knew it wouldn't be long now.

Richard tried to hold back the deep lusty moans that were building up inside him as Tera sucked and licked at his cock, trying to suck out his seed as he went back to lapping at her clit before quickly plunging his tongue back into her perfect wet pussy, as strong lusty groans left his mouth whilst thrusting very slightly into Tera's mouth, feeling himself seconds away from his release he so needed.

Tera could feel herself shake as a sense of satisfaction washed over her, completely overriding her other senses for a moment as her tight cunt became even tighter, beginning to gush her warm feminine juices into Richard's mouth who hungrily licked up every drop from her cunt. She wanted to just scream out, but her lover's cock down her throat stopped that from happening.

Richard closed his eyes tightly, he would've shouted out because of the extreme pleasure he now felt, but still, he lapped away at Tera's slit as he felt his hard cock spurting his hot cum deep down into Tera's throat.

After the feeling of paralyzing pleasure very slowly passed, they both took their mouths off each others genitals, but not after cleaning them with their tongues. After that, they both just lay there, panting very heavily before they both slowly sat up right and looked into each others eyes.

No words were exchanged, the loving look in their eyes said all they wanted to say before they closed them, and both kissed each other, mixing their saliva among their sexual fluids as their tongues clashed for some time before they both slowly pulled out of the kiss, and lay on their sleeping bags with each other, both happy and satisfied as they cuddled up to each other before closing their eyes.

They quietly stroked each other until they both fell asleep.

* * *

**Author's notes: Okay! Thanking the usual people! Hironada, BigBossSonic and Infinity Warrior all looked through and edited this! Sorry if people were waiting for this chapter for a while ^^**


	43. Sleepytime and sexual influences

Once Richard and Tera passed out from exhaustion, so did Louis and Kovick. Owen was still awake, sitting in his car as usual; remaining vigilant and occasionally looking to the back seats behind him, a bit of paranoia messing with his mind.

Tobias was now in the snowy forest, dumping his empty suitcase and now carrying his sniper rifle, an L96a1 sniper rifle.  
He wasn't sure what to think of his new weapon, this one was more powerful and looked better than his old rifle; although he still didn't really like the feel of it. He had shot it at targets a few times, but he knew it would be much more different when his targets are shooting back at him, again.  
Tobias knew he probably wouldn't get a chance to test out his new gun tonight, but he just didn't feel like being unarmed whilst on this mission.

Bruce was still outside, by the campfire, which was now dying out.  
He had noticed something, Kiara was awfully quiet. Usually around about this time they'd get into an argument and start shouting, swearing and threatening each other. "Hey, ice queen!" Bruce shouted over to her.

'Oh shit!' Kiara quickly thought to herself as her head quickly jerked up to look at him as she began to fear the worst.  
"What is it drunkard? Can't find your own ass?" she mocked him, trying to hide what she was really thinking. Even in the back of her mind, she still remembered him shooting in her direction, after watching him take a piss.

"Fuck you! That was a one time thing!" Bruce shouted at her, beginning to look angry.

"What?" Kiara confusedly replied.

'Oh shit, that wasn't her that saw me drunk off my ass.' Bruce quickly realized before saying, "Err, nothing."

A smirk quickly appeared on Kiara's face before she said, "Oh, come on! Tell me what you meant by that!"

"Fuck off!" Bruce yelled at her, flipping her a bird.

The Glaceon's smirk grew into a grin, as she saw another opportunity to embarrass him. She walked around the campfire, preferring to keep her paws on the snow and away from the fire as she sat next to him and teased him, saying, "Come on, tell me! I know you can't resist my charms."

Bruce let out a small chuckle before saying, "Charms? I've met more charming rabid dogs!"

"Oh, and do you fantasize about rabid dogs too?" Kiara snappily replied staring into the eyes of the drunkard.

'Oh fuck, she is not going to forget about me jerking off.' Bruce thought to himself. before he smirked and whispered, "Strange how you can't get your mind off me fantasizing, you must have liked what you saw."

"You wish." Kiara retorted back to him with a frown on her face as she began walking away from him, swaying her tail lightly.

Instantly, Bruce looked to Kiara's behind as she walked away, but then he noticed something else, the paw tracks she was leaving in the snow. "Ohhh... You sneaky bitch!" Bruce virtually yelled, as he began to laugh his ass off.

Kiara looked back to Bruce with a confused look on her face. "What now?" she asked, with a confused face, and a nervous feeling on the inside.

"You were watching me take a piss weren't you!" Bruce accused her with a big grin on his face.

Kiara felt her heart beat faster as soon as he accused her of that, she wondered how he had even found out. "W-what! No I didn't!" Kiara claimed, trying to hide how nervous she was now.

"Bullshit! You wanted to get another look didn't you?" Bruce questioned her as he leaned forwards, still sitting down.

"I wasn't watching you!" Kiara quickly replied, denying everything as she felt her cheeks beginning to warm up.

"Funny how you've got the same paw prints of the horny little thing watching me then isn't it?" Bruce grinned at her as he saw her look at her own paw prints as a look of shock appeared on her face.

'Oh crap!' Kiara quickly thought to herself, she hadn't thought about him finding the paw prints, she was to busy trying to hide and not get shot by him.  
"T-they're not mine! Something else must have been watching you!" Kiara claimed as her voice began to crack and stutter, giving him another reason to convict her.

"If it wasn't you ice queen, then why are you blushing?" Bruce inquired smugly, standing up and walking over to her.

"I-I'm not you blind drunkard!" Kiara quickly retorted as she stood her ground, frowning at the man coming towards her with great intent.

Bruce then knelt down in front of her and asked, "Aww, is the ice queen melting on me?"

Kiara growled a little before shouting in his face, her eyes beginning to water, "No I'm not you stupid, idiotic, drunk human!"

"Then why were you watching me?" Bruce asked again, as the smirk remained on his face.

"I wasn't!" Kiara yelled before bringing her face to his and growling, her eyes getting a bit bloodshot.

They both stared into each other's eyes, their faces only a few inches apart as Bruce sarcastically asked, "Gonna give me a kiss now ice queen?"

She hated to admit it to herself, but she was kind of tempted to do just that. She had often seen Tera and Richard kissing, she wondered what it would be like to do that with a human. Kiara said nothing more to Bruce. Instead, she decided it was best to storm off into the forest.

Bruce just chuckled a little, until she was out of sight. "Right, revenge time." he quietly said to himself as he stood up and followed Kiara, quietly.  
After a short time of following Kiara's paw prints in the snow, he finally saw her. 'Shit!' Bruce thought as he quickly and quietly hid behind a tree. 'Shit, if she's taking a piss and starts throwing icicles at me, then that's karma coming back to bite my ass,' he thought to himself as he peeked around the tree.

Kiara was now sitting uncomfortably with her back against the tree with her hind legs spread apart. She couldn't believe she was about to do this, whilst thinking about the person that she found more irritating than anything else.  
"Stupid drunkard..." she said out loud, to herself, before trying to use her front paws to rub her private parts. She just couldn't take it anymore, she was stuck with thoughts in her head, dirty ones of Bruce and herself, together.  
The thought of them both annoyed and aroused her at the same time. Every time she thought back to Bruce taking care of himself, she felt something inside her, an urge to just mate with Bruce over and over again, but she ignored it.  
Kiara just wanted to put all those thoughts out of her mind, and there was only one way she could think of to do that. She closed her eyes, and let her left forepaw rub at her moist slit as she closed her eyes and imagined Bruce's human fingers, slowly sliding up and down her hungry little sex.

Bruce couldn't believe what he was seeing, he had been hoping for something like this to happen, so he could just walk out and embarrass her. But now as he watched, he just grew incredibly horny, he couldn't keep his eyes off her tight slit. He kept watching as his member began to grow bigger and harder in his pants.  
So many dirty thoughts now raced through his mind as he stayed hidden, rubbing his hardening cock slightly through his pants.

Kiara thought back to when she saw Bruce, pumping his nice hard human cock whilst thinking of her. The thought turned her on so much, she couldn't deny that. She had never mated with anyone before, she wondered what it would be like to have his cock sliding in and out of her, stretching her cunt, she wondered what it would be like to have him pumping his warm seed deep inside her.  
All those thoughts just kept her going, she was now rubbing at her slit a little faster, she wished she could go even faster but she just couldn't, and it frustrated her a lot right now. She felt like she needed to be satisfied right there and then.  
She remembered Tera telling her what sex with a human is like after she asked, she wondered if her first time would be as enjoyable as Tera's, and if it hurts at first. Whilst she rubbed her cunt whilst thinking of Bruce taking her virginity, she let a few quite loud moans slip past her lips, echoing in the forest.

Bruce couldn't take it, after hearing her sweet moans and watching some clear glistening fluid leak out from her pussy, he slowly unzipped his fly and began stroking his cock as he watched the horny Glaceon he so desired.

Kiara began to take deeper breaths as she felt the tingling sensation in her crotch rise, her hind paws began twitching slightly from the feeling. Her frozen breath could be seen as she panted and moaned, still with her eyes closed as she fantasized about him. As she squirmed, a few words that could be heard by Bruce left her lips.  
"F-fuck me Bruce." she quietly said aloud, almost fully immersed in her fantasy.

As soon as Bruce heard that, he had to suppress a moan as he picked up the pace and jerked himself off even faster and harder, imagining ramming every inch of his cock deep into Kiara's tight cunt, making her squirm underneath him. He wished he didn't have to be quiet because right now, he just felt like jerking himself off nice and hard, wanting to make himself cum faster.

Kiara kept rubbing away at her own cunt, feeling it tingling as she squirmed whilst touching her small clit. She wanted more of this feeling, she wanted to be satisfied but all she could do was rub herself. She let out a few loud moans and whimpers of joy as she felt herself drawing closer and closer to her orgasm.  
"B-Bruce..." she huffed out as her hind paws twitched even more whilst she kept her eyes tightly closed. Suddenly, she yelped as she felt her orgasm making her cunt twitch and tighten, causing her whole body to shake. Kiara couldn't rub herself anymore, it just felt too good for her.

As Bruce watched the Glaceon shake with pure pleasure, he panted and let out a small moan, loud enough for her to hear it. All the while she making Kiara gasp when she heard it.  
'Oh fuck!' Bruce thought to himself as he quickly hid behind the tree he was watching her from and stopped jerking himself off.

Kiara quickly opened her eyes and looked around herself for the source of the noise, she was sure she heard someone, but she wasn't sure if it was just her mind playing tricks on her.

'Oh, fuck! She's gonna see me with my fucking hand on my cock and a fucking blush on my cheeks! I can't fucking run away, she'll see my fucking foot prints, corner me and fucking taunt me! Or kill me! Fucking... Shit! Shit! Shit!' Bruce angrily thought to himself as he began to panic.

Kiara got up and quickly composed herself, and began walking over in the direction she heard the sound coming from, very cautiously.

'If I get castrated by an icicle, I'm going to be pissed!' Bruce thought to himself before stuffing his erection back into his pants and zipping up his fly, now pitching a tent in his pants. Bruce was more than a little worried, but he quickly became much more worried when he looked to his left and saw Kiara standing there with a shocked look on her face.  
Bruce cheesily said, "Hey... Come here often?" He then waited for a response.

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, wanna start of by saying sorry it took so long and saying thanks to hironada and BigBossSonic for editing this chapter and... Damn, what did he change his name to... Oh, and Proto-Fusion for editing and giving me this chapter title. Hope you all enjoyed! XD**

**Oh, and thank you to NagatoLucario.-115 for noticing my mistake, my mind must have been somewhere else at the time I got those two numbers mixed up. ^^**


	44. Kiara's first

"Bruce!" Kiara shouted in shock as she instantly began thinking about just how long he was there for.

Bruce tried to think of something to say, but only one word popped up in his mind. 'Fuck!'

By the shocked look on Bruce's face, Kiara guessed that either he had seen or heard her, or both. "H-how long were you there for?" Kiara very nervously asked, slightly afraid of the answer he might give her.

Bruce now had a choice, tell her everything, and risk getting an icicle in an unpleasant place, or lie, and keep pretending that he doesn't want her when in fact, he wanted her more than anyone else. 'Fuck it, let's take a risk!' his own voice in his mind shouted before he said, "Long enough to hear you call out my name, you dirty little ice queen."

Kiara gasped before quickly stuttering, "I-I wasn't..." Kiara didn't finish her sentence, guessed that Bruce had heard and saw everything she did, that meant he was much more likely to know when she was lying to him. Kiara didn't know why, but she also glanced at his crotch, seeing the human was aroused judging from the bulge she could see. She couldn't think of anything to say to him, so she just shut herself up.

Bruce chuckled before saying, "You weren't what? Touching yourself?"

Kiaras eyes widened once more as she looked into Bruce's eyes and yelled, "It's not my fault! Y-you did it too!"

Bruce smirked as he knelt down and admitted, "Yeah, I did. So what?"

Kiara didn't know what to say to that, just said what came to mind. "Just leave me alone." she said out of embarrassment as she looked down to the snowy ground.

Bruce looked down to her and let out a sigh, knowing that what he was about to say might very well just come back to bite him in the ass. "Cheer up ice queen... I think you're... Kinda cute." he admitted to her.

Kiara's head immediately shot up to look at him as she very quickly said, "W-what!"

'Fuck it, I'm probably gonna get totally fucking beaten to shit on this mission, might even die. I'm gonna be fucking going out happy!' Bruce thought to himself, building up his courage enough to say, "You heard me, I think you're hot! ... Not, like, literally... But you get what I mean!"

Kiara was stunned, she never really expected Bruce to admit something like that to her. Now that she knew how he felt, she wondered if she should just go ahead and tell Bruce how she feels. "I err... You, really like me? But why?" Kiara asked cautiously, giving a cute nervous look as she questioned him.

"I don't fucking know.. I just like your... Bitchiness, in a good way!" Bruce quickly pointed out.

"My bitchiness?" Kiara repeated. She was confused to say the least, out of all the things about her he could like, he chose to tell her he likes her bitchiness.

Bruce could see that perhaps picking out her being bitchy was not a convincing way to say that he likes her. "I mean, I just like how snappy and cute you are." Bruce replied as he began wondering what she was thinking right now.

Kiara could feel herself starting to blush again, embarrassing her even more. She was about to admit how she feels about him, but then she quickly reminded herself that she was talking to Bruce, she couldn't be sure if he was just screwing with her or not. "Err... What else do you like about me?" Kiara asked as a small smile began to creep to her face.

Bruce sighed, knowing that there was no going back now. "Well... I like your green eyes... They're... Really nice." he responded. Bruce wasn't good at compliments, mostly because he was more used to insults.

Kiara shook her head before saying, "You're just screwing with me aren't you?"

"Not yet." Bruce said with a smirk. Kiara frowned as Bruce laughed and said, "Aww come on, that was funny."

"I'm leaving." Kiara said as she turned around and started to walk away.

Bruce quickly stood up and quickly said, "You never said if you like me or not."

Kiara stopped walking and looked back to Bruce. She liked him, she couldn't deny that, but she found it hard to imagine them both living with each other like Richard and Tera. It was strange. She really hated him, but at the same time, really liked him. She guessed that Bruce meant the same thing when he was talking about her bitchiness. She really wanted to be with him, she didn't want to deny that any longer, she just hoped that Bruce wouldn't just laugh in her face because he wasn't just screwing around with her like he always does. "I... I do." Kiara admitted before letting out a small sigh, one which Bruce could not hear.

Bruce's tone soon changed to an almost caring one as he knelt down besides her and asked, "Have you ever... Done it before?"

Kiara shook her head as she blushed. "No, I haven't." she replied with a nervous smile on her face.

'Ohh, shit, she's a virgin! Never had a virgin before.' Bruce thought to himself. "Well... Do you want to?" Bruce asked her.

Kiara's eyes immediately locked onto his as she asked, "You... Like me that much?"

"Of course I do... Even if you do headbutt me and really piss me off sometimes." Bruce replied with a smirk.

Kiara looked down to the ground, uncertain of what she should do. She desired this human a lot, but she knew that losing her virginity was a big step. She wanted Bruce, she wanted him to be her mate, but she wasn't completely sure Bruce felt the same way, she was sure that he wasn't a virgin, and there was no good reason for him to stay around after they mate. She didn't want to just throw herself at him, but she really, really liked him. She wanted to know if she could trust him. "Bruce..." Kiara quietly said.

"Yeah?" Bruce responded.

"Do you think that... Do you... Love me?" Kiara asked, slightly afraid of the answer he may give.

Bruce didn't really know what to say to that, so he just said what came to mind. "I'm not sure... Why don't we kiss to find out?" Bruce said with a small smile on his face.

Kiara quickly stuttered, "W-what?"

"You heard me, we've been teasing each other for a while... Why don't we just try it? If you don't like it then we won't do it again." Bruce said, trying to convince her.

'My first kiss with this drunkard?... Damn it! Why do I like his annoying ass so much!' Kiara's own voice shouted in her mind as she said, "... Okay... Let's try it."

Bruce was actually surprised she agreed, and without getting her drunk too. This was it, he was about to do something that he only ever thought he'd do in his dreams, kiss Kiara. He was already kneeling, so if he wanted he could just kiss her right then and there, but he didn't, not right away.

There was a moment of silence as they both looked at each other, into each other's green eyes. Slowly, they both leaned in, bringing their faces closer to each other, starting to close their eyes. Already, Bruce could feel Kiara's cold breath on his lips, just a moment before he felt her soft lips on his.

Their first kiss together only lasted a few seconds, they didn't bother to open their eyes after the first kiss, because they quickly had a second much longer kiss. Bruce could now feel Kiara's cold rough tongue slip into his mouth, and a few seconds later, she felt his warm tongue slip into her cold maw. Their tongues felt like they were almost fighting for dominance in each other's mouths and they loved that feeling. For over a full minute, they kissed as all thoughts on if it was a good idea to be so close to each other just disappeared, replaced by thoughts of what it would be like to go even further, and just mate with each other. Together, they slowly withdrew from the kiss, slowly opening their eyes to look at the lust filled expressions on each other's face.

Bruce smiled at her as he said, "You liked?"

Kiara smirked before saying, "I liked."

Bruce noticed that she no longer sounded nervous, like she wanted this a lot. He stroked the frozen fur on Kiara's back while he sat down in the snow and gave her the deepest kiss he ever had with anyone. He could already feel himself becoming hard as he thought about just reaching behind her and touching her private parts. Just as they pulled out of their kiss, Bruce looked at her and said, "For an ice rat, you sure are fucking hot."

A small smirk appeared on Kiara's face. "I can't wait to see you with your pants down, again." she told him.

"Heh, if you want me out of them, all you have to do is ask." Bruce replied before placing both of his hands on the back of her head and roughly pulling her into another kiss.

Kiara pushed her tongue into his mouth as she closed her eyes and gave him a long deep kiss, and felt his hands slowly move down from her head to her back.

When they both finally pulled out of the kiss, Bruce smiled as he said, "Your mouth is cold, I wonder if it's the same back there."

Kiara smiled before affectionately licking Bruce's cheek with her cold tongue. "Maybe I'll let you find out, if you do something for me." she said with a grin as a devious thought came to her mind.

"Anything!" Bruce responded.

Kiara knew exactly what she wanted him to do for her, something she had seen Richard do to Tera. She leaned and whispered into Bruce's ear. "I want you to give me a massage."

Bruce now had a grin on his face as his mind became a very dirty place. "Sure I will." Bruce said to her as Kiara walked off his body and lay on her stomach. He massaged her upper back, careful and very determined to do it right. He looked down to Kiara and asked, "This feel good?"

"Mhmm, just a little harder." Kiara replied with a small smile on her face.

Bruce happily complied, and rubbed her back a little harder, and a little lower.

Kiara hummed a little before she said, "Ahh, that's better."

"I know a better place to rub." Bruce said with a smirk.

"Maybe I'll let you, later." Kiara replied whilst she grinned.

"You're teasing me, aren't you?" Bruce asked as he continued to massage her back.

"Yep, now rub a little lower." Kiara playfully ordered him.

Bruce did as she asked, and rubbed lower. As his hands rubbed lower down her back, he watched as Kiara's tail lifted into the air, exposing herself to Bruce. He looked straight down to her crotch, he couldn't stop looking at her little slit and tail hole as he said, "I'm enjoying the view right now."

Kiara looked back up to him as she lightly blushed after realizing where he was looking. As she looked at the smile on his face, she got another idea. "Why don't you take off your clothes so I can enjoy the view too?" Kiara suggested to him, starting to blush a little brighter.

Bruce stopped massaging her back. "Hah! Anything you want!" he said excitedly as he stood up and took off everything he had on, even his dog tags. He wasn't exactly thrilled to be standing on snow but he'd be willing to stand on hot coals for Kiara.

Kiara watched and looked up and down his masculine body, her eyes stopping at his length as she blushed. "Much better." she said as she thought, 'Wow, he's really excited for me... Would that even fit?' Kiara stood up and said, "Get on your back."

Bruce liked where this was going. "Is that an order?" Bruce asked with a smirk.

"Do I have to headbutt you again?" Kiara playfully asked.

Bruce just laughed before laying down on the ground, letting his naked back touch the snow on the ground as he thought, 'Fucking shit that's cold!'

Kiara walked up in between his legs as she looked at Bruce's erect manhood. Already, she could feel her feminine fluids leaking from her pussy from the anticipation. She hadn't felt like this before, but now, as she looked at Bruce's hard cock, all she wanted to do was ride him. Then, she did something she had been thinking about doing to Bruce ever since she caught him with his pants down.

Bruce felt her cold breath on his on his hard cock, causing him to let out a low groan and feeling a shiver get sent down his spine. "Ohhh, shit. That feels pretty fucking good." Bruce uttered as he looked down to Kiara who now had a pinkish tint to her cheeks, instead of its normal pale blue color.

Kiara watched as Bruce literally shivered a little. That gave her some very dirty thoughts, which she then acted out. Her rough cold cat-like tongue licked his shaft, earning some groans of satisfaction from Bruce as she did so.

Bruce closed his eyes while Kiara licked from the base of his cock, right up to his tip. Kiara couldn't stop herself from giving his tip a few short licks, making Bruce let out a long lustful sigh as she licked down his shaft to his balls. He couldn't believe how good it felt, he had been licked down there before, but this just felt way different to him.

Kiara then licked up from his balls, all the way back up to Bruce's tip, which she then sucked on. Hearing the great moan that left Bruce's lips after she did this only encouraged her to take more of his human cock into her mouth.

"A-ahh, fuck!" Bruce cursed as he felt her incredible mouth sucking the tip of his manhood. The way that Kiara sucked on the head of his cock made him want to squirm, the pleasure felt so great to him that he had forgotten that he was lying down naked on the snowy ground. He watched as Kiara's head bobbed up and down his shaft, taking more of his cock into her cold mouth, watching her do that turned him on even more, so much so that he soon realized that he wouldn't be able to hold back.

Bruce could feel the pleasure building and building to almost unbearable levels as he opened his mouth in an attempt to warn Kiara of what was about to happen, but it was too late, all that came out of his mouth were loud moans as his cock twitched and spurted his warm load down Kiara's throat.

Kiara gagged as she felt his seed going down her gullet before taking her mouth off his cock, and cleaning it with her tongue.

Bruce panted hard as he looked down to Kiara and said, "That was... Fucking fantastic."

Kiara stopped licking Bruce's manhood and smiled as she shyly said, "Tasted strange."

Bruce smirked as he said, "Well, let's see how you taste then."

Kiara's eyes widened before she was carefully pushed onto her back with little effort from Bruce. She was about to say something, but she quickly realized that Bruce's head was now already in between her hind legs.

Bruce inspected her pussy closely, he could see already that she was so wet, a trail of clear liquid could be seen dripping down to her asshole. Bruce simply couldn't wait to feel his cock inside her. He closed his eyes while he licked Kiara's cold virgin pussy for the first time, he could hear her gasp as soon as his tongue touched her nether-lips. He could hear her breathe in and out erratically as he used his tongue to clean up her wet mess around her crotch only to lick up more of it directly from her cunt.

Kiara couldn't stop herself from squirming as she felt something warm and wet going up and down her soft, delicate folds. It was her first time doing anything like this, and it felt amazing to her. Already, she felt like something in her groin was happening, it was like when she rubbed herself, only it felt better than that. She wanted to tell him to keep going, but every time she opened her mouth, all that came out were moans that turned Bruce on even more.

Bruce's tongue dashed up and down her cold slick folds before he placed his mouth over the top of Kiara's cunt and began sucking at her stiff little clit, playing with it using his tongue, driving Kiara closer and closer to her climax.

Kiara couldn't hide the feeling of sheer pleasure that now shook her body, within seconds she let out what sounded like a loud cry of pure ecstasy as she felt herself having an orgasm more powerful than she thought was possible.

Bruce licked up every drop of Kiara's pussy juices that he could find, and he kept licking, wanting to keep Kiara moaning like he imagined her doing in his daydreams he had about her. Kiara's body shook a lot as he worked his tongue inside her, licking her walls for more of her feminine fluids. He only stopped licking her when he felt her body stop shaking, and her moans starting to grow quieter. He then sat upright and looked to Kiara who was now panting, she looked like she was out of breath. "Enjoy yourself?" Bruce asked as he smirked.

"T-that felt amazing!" Kiara exclaimed, still breathing heavily.

Bruce then brought his face closer to Kiara's as he whispered, "I know something that feels even better... Want to try it?"

Kiara's eyes widened, she knew what he was talking about, she wanted it but she knew it'd be a big step. Kiara heard from Tera that it hurt at first when she asked, and she wasn't much shorter than Richard. She wondered how it'd feel to have Bruce inside her, but she was slightly afraid of how much it'd hurt. "... Okay, let's do it." Kiara replied, wearing a small smirk on her face after kissing Bruce and standing up.

Bruce watched as Kiara raised her butt into the air, her tail moving out of the way to once again give him a good view of her tail hole and her vagina. He wasted no time in kneeling behind her, rubbing the tip of his erection up and down her pink slit. It felt strange to him, she was cold down there, but it wasn't unpleasant, it was unlike anything he had felt before, and he wanted more of it. He could hear Kiara huffing from the pleasure, but pleasure wasn't the only thing on his mind. There was quite a big size difference between them, and he worried for her. He couldn't stop thinking that if he did push into her, he might be too big, and may end up seriously hurting her. "This maybe a tight fit... It might hurt a little." Bruce warned her.

Kiara to look behind her, she was thinking the same as Bruce, she wasn't sure that it would fit either. But despite all the doubts in her head, she said, "Do it fast Bruce, just push through."

Bruce did as she asked. He placed both of his hands on her behind, and pushed forward, breaking through her virgin barrier. Kiara felt Bruce's manhood stretching her inner walls, feeling a wave of pain and pleasure come over her, causing a whimper to escape her lips and her body to shake.

"Fuck, are you okay?" Bruce quickly asked.

"Keep going Bruce... Just keep going." Kiara lustfully huffed out.

Bruce nodded in response, before slowly pulling out of her quivering womanhood and slowly pushing back into her. He could feel Kiara pushing back onto his cock as they now built up a slow rhythm, steadily getting faster.

Kiara's whimpers steadily turned into moans of satisfaction as she felt Bruce's hard cock pushing through her tight wet folds, getting deeper and deeper into her. She couldn't believe it, she was having sex with Bruce, and she was loving every second of it. She tried to look behind her as she quietly said, "Go a little faster..."

Bruce groaned slightly as he soon felt his entire length slide into her tight little hungry sex, and began thrusting faster. They could both hear little wet noises with every thrust, a sound which only made the experience more satisfying for the both of them.

Kiara's moans became louder as Bruce's thrusts became harder, she panted as she felt his cock pounding deep into her cunt. She felt like she was being filled with Bruce's length. She had never felt anything like it before, for her, it felt like every nerve in her body just told her to cry out in ecstasy. She could feel the pleasure just building up with every single thrust, feeling his cock rubbing against her inner walls, driving her closer to her orgasm.

Bruce's groans got louder and louder as he rammed into her tight cunt over and over again. He felt like he couldn't contain himself any longer. He could feel Kiara's pussy tightening on his manhood as she began breathing in deeply, and moaning loudly. Bruce could feel himself nearing his orgasm as he shouted out, "Kiara! You feel too fucking good!"

"Keep going! I can feel it coming again!" Kiara barely managed to shout out in between her loud moans.

Bruce buried his length deep inside Kiara, causing her to raise her butt up even further moments before their powerful orgasms overwhelmed them, causing them to let out loud lust filled moans. Kiara's walls closed around Bruce's manhood and convulsed as she felt her orgasm wreck through her body, soaking his cock with her own love juices as he blew his hot thick load inside Kiara. He continued to slowly thrust even though he knew that the pleasure was too much for them to take, as he did, he could feel their love fluids coating his cock, making sliding in and out of her tight hole easier, and more enjoyable, but now they both couldn't find the strength to move. They lay down together on the ground, Bruce still behind her, and inside her. Their panting was the only sound they could hear.

Bruce stroked the almost frozen fur on her body as he said, "Kiara... Would it be weird if I said I love you?"

Kiara smiled as she turned her head slightly to look back into Bruce's eyes. "Do you?" she asked with happiness in her voice.

Bruce smiled back. "I do... You're the fucking best." he replied before giving her a small kiss on her cheek.

Kiara now had a big grin on her face as she said, "No, you are... And I love you too."

Bruce kissed her on the top of her head as he smirked. "Anytime you want some more of me, all you have to do is ask." he said to her as he held her close to him.

Kiara normally hated warm things, but she enjoyed the heat she felt from Bruce's body. "You might regret saying that." Kiara said with a devious smile on her face.

"Heh, unlikely." Bruce said with a smile as one of his hands traveled from her side to in between Kiara's legs, rubbing around her slit which was still filled with Bruce's manhood, and their love fluids.

Kiara let out a little moan as she felt Bruce thrust a few times before stopping. "You're not going to start teasing me now are you?" she asked playfully.

Bruce let out a chuckle. "Maybe, if it gets you pissed. I love to see you pissed off." he told her.

"Maybe I'll have to start teasing you then." Kiara replied with a small smirk.

"I like the sound of that." Bruce responded as his other hand now stroked her stomach, rubbing her little nipples as Kiara let out a satisfied sigh. As Bruce did this, he soon realized something. 'Fucking shit, it's cold out here!' he thought before he said, "I'm gonna put some clothes on before I freeze to death."

"That would probably be a good idea. I wouldn't want a certain part of you to freeze off now." Kiara replied with a smirk.

"You're not the only one." Bruce responded as he slowly pulled out of Kiara before getting up and finding all of his clothes, it took him a while but he also found his dog tags in the end. He put on all of his clothes before saying, "Right, let's get the fuck back to camp before they come looking for us."

Kiara nodded and walked back to camp with Bruce. Shortly afterwards, she was watching him attempt to set up his tent again, and failing time after time. "Come on, you didn't have trouble pitching a tent before." Kiara snappily said to him as she grinned.

"Oh, ha fucking ha, why don't you come over here and give me some help then?" Bruce replied sarcastically as he began to shiver, feeling how cold it really was. He usually sat by the fire which he usually poured some flammable drinks over when he was bored, and he didn't usually stand outside naked, so he hadn't felt this cold in a while.

"Put up the tent first, and then I'll help you out." Kiara said as she deviously smirked.

Bruce was now determined to get the tent up now, a few more minutes passed and about a hundred more curse words were said before he backed away from the tent and said, "Right, the fucker is finally up! Come on, let's get in."

Kiara followed Bruce into the tent and found him lying down. "Enjoying yourself?" Kiara asked him with a small smile on her face.

"Not yet, want to help me with that?" Bruce asked her as he began to smirk.

Kiara walked over to Bruce and jumped on top of him, looking down into his eyes with a cute devious little smile on her face. As she felt Bruce's arms wrap around her, she quickly kissed him, forcing their tongues to fight for dominance once more. She could feel Bruce starting to grind against her, and she liked it. They kissed and touched each other all the way through the night. They didn't even notice that the sun was starting to rise because they were too busy with each other. Eventually, they fell asleep, although they didn't have much time to rest.

* * *

**Author's note: Hehe, I hope you all liked this chapter. Sorry it took so long to get out but I was waiting like about two months or almost two months for Warrior to edit this, got bored and I wanted this to be out sooner so I just sent this over to BigBossSonic and Hironada who quickly edited it. ^^**

**Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this, and I know this is a like one day early but happy holidays!**


	45. Just a cold

Richard slowly awoke in his tent, he opened his eyes and looked over to his side where Tera would usually be cuddling up to him, but she wasn't there. "Tera?" Richard said as he sat upright and crawled out of his tent. He stood up and looked around the campsite. Everywhere looked slightly blue because the sun hadn't quite risen, and there were no clouds in the sky. But Richard wasn't paying any attention to the sky, he saw no one around the campsite. The flames from the campfire had died.

Richard walked over to Kovick's tent as he was on friendly terms with him. "Hello?" Richard said as he looked into the tent to find no one in it, which quickly got him worried.

"Tera!" he shouted as he became more worried with each second that passed. "Tera!" Richard shouted even louder, hoping someone would hear him. A second later, he heard a scream in the forest. It sounded like Tera. Richard didn't even look for his gun, he just ran straight towards the scream as fast as he could. He ran past a dozen trees, hoping Tera was okay. Eventually, Richard ran into a grassy area with fewer trees, he ran straight into a horrific sight.

Everyone on his team was on the ground, dead, beaten, shot and stabbed. Everyone was there, Louis, Reaper, Tobias, Kovick, Owen, Bruce, Kiara, and Tera. Richard's mind couldn't take in what was going on, he just ran towards Tera and dropped to his knees and hands, by her side. The cream colored fur on her torso was now stained red with her own blood, her eyes were closed, in her left paw was the necklace Richard gave to her. Tears quickly came to Richard's eyes as he quickly checked for a pulse, but found none.

"No... D-don't leave me Tera." Richard whispered, choking on his own words as he held her in his arms. "I... I can't live without you!" he cried into the blood stained fur on her chest. He meant it, he really couldn't live without her. His future was with Tera, now that she was dead, there was no future for him. He couldn't stand to be alive without her, so he wanted to be dead with her.

Richard slowly set Tera's lifeless corpse down on the grassy ground, before reaching down to his right boot, and took out his combat knife. He lay down on the ground, right next to Tera, as he held on to the handle of his combat knife with both hands. The blade was pointing down to his chest. Just as he was about to pull the blade down into his chest, he opened his eyes, to find himself back in his tent.

He looked over to his side, and as he expected, Tera was still there, facing him as she still slept. There were no words to describe how happy that his nightmare was just that, only a nightmare. Richard wrapped one of his arms around her, careful not to wake her as he looked to her beautiful face. He hoped that he could carry on looking at her beautiful face as she slept many years later, after Silas and his army was destroyed and everything was calmer.

As he lay there, he began wondering what his friends back home were doing, how Ethan and Lucy were getting along, and if Cleaves ever went back to medical school. Somehow he guessed Cleaves would be too lazy to go to medical school again and just keep pretending to know what he was doing when it came to everything medical. As he kept thinking, he thought back to when Owen recruited Mac, he wondered what he was doing right now. He wondered if he was back at town, or was already helping them out somehow.

He guessed he'd find out sooner or later, but for now, all he wanted to do was just sleep with Tera. He closed his eyes as he listened to the faint sound of Tera breathing in and out as she slept. It took him some time, but he eventually fell back asleep.

A few hours later, Tera slowly opened her eyes, smiling as the first thing she saw was Richard's face. It looked like he was in a deep sleep, she didn't want to move and wake him when he looked this peaceful. She just lay there silently, watching her soul mate sleep whilst she smiled as she thought about the night they had together. She couldn't wait to get back to their home in Hoenn and have more nights like that.

Richard's eyes opened slowly as he awoke to find Tera looking at him as she lay besides him. "How long have you been awake?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes a little and sat upright.

Tera kissed his cheek before saying, "Not long."

Richard now smiled as he looked into Tera's eyes. Her little kisses always seemed to make him feel better. "Are the others awake?" he asked her.

"I'm not sure. I think I heard some of them outside the tent." Tera told him.

"We should go see who's up then." Richard said before quickly finding his boxers and trousers.

Tera nodded in agreement before saying, "Richard."

"Yeah?" Richard responded as he stopped searching for his clothes.

"I enjoyed last night." Tera replied with a cute, almost nervous smile.

Richard couldn't stop himself from grinning as he said, "So did I... A lot."

Tera could feel her cheeks beginning to heat up as she wrapped her arms around her human lover and whispered, "Can we do it again?"

Richard hugged her back and kissed her neck. "Tonight." he whispered back to her.

Meanwhile, Bruce now sat upright and groaned as he soon found out that he couldn't breathe in or out of his nose. "Awww, shit." Bruce quietly groaned as he looked to his left to see Kiara who was now waking up next to him.

Kiara let out a quiet yawn before looking at Bruce and smiling before saying, "Err... Sleep well?"

"I didn't get much sleep, I feel like shit, my nose is blocked up, I'm tired, cold and I feel like sneezing... But it was so fucking worth it." Bruce told her as he tried his best to smile despite how sick he was feeling.

Kiara grinned as she said, "Aww, did my drunkard catch a cold?"

"My fault for fucking in the snow while naked... Stupid fucking idea, still worth it." Bruce replied as he now reached out and stroked Kiara's cheek.

Kiara blushed a little as she said, "Glad to know you liked it."

"I loved it... And..." Bruce trailed off, wondering if it would sound cheesy, or just sound wrong if he said it again.

"And... What?" Kiara inquired.

"And I love you." Bruce said as he thought, 'Yeah, didn't sound all that romantic.'

Kiara smiled brightly as she moved up to Bruce and kissed his lips. "I love your drunken ass too." she told him.

Bruce had been out with many girls before, some of them were even Pokémon, but he knew there was something he liked about Kiara that he didn't care about or didn't like in the others, personality. It also helped that he found her absolutely adorable, even hot in her own way. He really felt something for her, it felt strange to him, it felt nice. It would have felt nicer if he wasn't feeling so sick. Suddenly, Bruce was pulled out of his thoughts and quickly made his way out of the tent, luckily he kept his clothes on through the night. "Fuck, I'm gonna sneeze!" he said as he now stood outside and sneezed loudly.

Kovick and Owen were both about twenty feet away from Bruce, the sneeze surprised them, but they were almost shocked when they saw Kiara walking out of Bruce's tent. They had both pointed out that Bruce had finally decided to put up his tent, and now they looked at each other, both realizing why he bothered to put up his tent.

Kiara cautiously walked towards Bruce and giggled a little before asking, "Err, are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on top of the fucking world." Bruce replied with sarcasm in his voice.

Kiara felt a little sorry for Bruce, but not by much. 'He's a soldier, he can handle a little cold.' Kiara thought to herself.

A few minutes later, Richard and Tera both climbed out of their tent. Tera was wearing her body armor, she had told Richard to put his on just in case something bad happened again. He did as she asked, but he said he'd only do it if she did too. Richard was wearing a green T-shirt under his body armor, and combat trousers with his combat boots he always wore.

Tera quickly spotted Kiara next to Bruce, who now did not look so good. She also saw Louis and Reaper who were now just walking around the camp, out of all the people she noticed though, one person stood out. "Err, Richard?" Tera said to him.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Did he have that big gun before?" Tera asked as she pointed towards Tobias who now carried a sniper rifle in his hands.

"Maybe he put it somewhere in the car when he joined us." Richard guessed as his attention was soon drawn to Owen who now walked towards him.

Owen stood in front of Richard as he asked, "What's the plan? Still want to find out more about the guys that attacked us?"

"Depends, do you think there's something more urgent we need to take care of?" Richard inquired.

"Well, there is one thing." Owen said.

"What is it?" Richard questioned him.

"I believe we're going to be attacked again. I think that attack was just a test. There's a chance we're already being watched." Owen stated.

"What makes you think that?" Richard asked him.

"Because I know Silas has sent his best for us, and so far we've only been attacked by two real viper members. There's no way they'd only send two for us." Owen told him.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Richard replied.

"I say we either keep moving and setting up camp like we've been doing, or we find ourselves a good defensible location and wait for them to come to us, but I think we need more men, I think we need another sniper." Owen stated.

"Got anyone in mind?" Richard curiously asked.

"Maybe, I don't know if I can get that person on our team though. He's only a private, but I think he could work well in our team. Anyway, what do you think we should do?" Owen responded.

Richard thought for a while before he said, "I think we should keep moving until we have at least one more member then. We should also probably get some more ammo and guns soon, if we're up against vipers, we're gonna need as much fire power as possible."

"We'll move out now, if you want, we could still try and find out who attacked us back in the city." Owen said.

"I don't think we should bother, I don't think we'd get much new information anyway." Richard replied.

"Okay then, get to packing your gear up and we'll move out." Owen said before walking off back towards the heavily armored car.

A little while later, everyone found themselves back in the car. Tobias was sleeping in the car because he got no sleep last night, Louis and Reaper were sitting down quietly, Kovick was thinking about Bruce and Kiara as he noticed the small smirks and the words they whispered to each other. Richard and Tera were just sort of leaning against each other, occasionally smiling, kissing and saying stuff to each other.

Bruce smirked while he reached into one of his bags and took out a bottle of vodka as he looked at Kiara and said, "Wanna drink a little?"

Kiara nodded before saying, "Sure."

Bruce unscrewed the bottle and began pouring a little into Kiara's mouth. Part of him wanted to get her drunk, even if she did try to headbutt him again. After giving Kiara a little to drink, he then sipped a little from his bottle, and then he noticed something, there was a small nick in her left ear, like something had bitten into it. "How did you do that to your ear? Get into a fight?" Bruce curiously asked.

Kiara knew he was talking about the small missing piece of her ear and quickly said, "No, I was just sleeping in a cave and an icicle kinda... fell on my ear."

Bruce just chuckled a little before saying, "You must be really fucking unlucky, first you get your ear pierced by an icicle and now you're on this mission where people are all out to kill us."

"It's not that bad, it's kinda exciting." Kiara said with a smirk.

"Yeah, shooting slavers up the ass is kinda fun, but I can think of funner, more exciting stuff to do with you." Bruce replied as he grinned. Immediately, that comment got the attention of Louis, Reaper, Kovick, Tera and Richard, even Owen who was busy driving didn't have any trouble hearing that.

Kiara blushed a little as she asked, "Is that why you're trying to get me drunk?"

"I don't need to get you drunk, I just think you could do with some fluids in you." Bruce responded as dirty thoughts raced through his mind. At that point, Richard and Tera looked at each other as they both began thinking the same thing.

Kovick listened to their conversation and all he could think was, 'I hope Bruce wears protection when he's with her.'

It took Reaper a while, but he eventually realized that they weren't heading back to the city like he thought they all would. "Where are we going?" Reaper curiously asked.

Richard looked over to him as he said, "We're going to try and get a new member on our team, but for now, we need to find a good place to set up camp. There's a chance we could be in for a fight tonight."

Everybody except Owen who was driving and Tobias who was still asleep looked at Richard as soon as he said the word fight.

Kovick thought for a while before saying, "Maybe we should camp somewhere high up... Maybe mountains, hilly areas, places like that. Somewhere with few trees to hide behind, but with enough cover to keep us alive."

"Sounds good to me, we'll see what we can find." Richard replied as he just sat back and waited for time to pass by.

The sun went down once more, and they had now set up camp on a cold snowy hill. There were a few trees to hide their location but that was all really. Bruce didn't like the place, it wasn't exactly making him feel any better, but he found it hard to complain when he was drunk and now flirting with Kiara a little.

Richard and Tera were both in their tent, Kovick was just walking around camp, as was Reaper and Louis. Owen now walked towards Tobias, who was now silently watching the trees, rocks and hills around them. Tobias had his sniper rifle in his hands and a serious look on his face.

Owen had a feeling Tobias wasn't feeling to good. "Something wrong?" Owen asked, expecting him to complain about the team or something.

"There's someone out there." Tobias said with no emotion in his voice.

"Where?" Owen quickly asked as he kept his eyes on Tobias, if someone was watching the both of them, he didn't want them to know Tobias just told him.

"I don't know... Whoever was there has probably moved to a different position by now. If someone is there, it's likely there's more than one." Tobias stated as he scanned the land in front of him with his eyes.

"You think they're hostile?" Owen questioned him.

"I don't know... Maybe... Don't take any chances... Kill them if they get close." Tobias replied.

Owen stared at Tobias as he said, "What if they're not hostile and we fire on them?"

"These things happen... It's you or them." Tobias stated.

Owen didn't like Tobias' attitude towards his missions, putting the missions ahead of lives, killing anyone who may be a threat, doing whatever it takes to get a mission done. Owen knew you had to do some questionable stuff to become an agent, but the stuff that Tobias did just seemed cold at times. "I'd prefer to make sure I don't kill an innocent." Owen responded.

"A lot of people make that mistake... I'm not saying kill innocents, just do what your instincts tell you to do, and keep your mind on the mission." Tobias replied.

"The mission isn't always everything." Owen quickly reminded him.

"It is for me." Tobias told him, still keeping that monotonous tone of voice.

Owen felt strange, when he looked at Tobias, he couldn't help but be reminded a little of his father. Owen decided to leave before he got into an argument with Tobias. It was people like him that made him wish he never became an agent. He didn't want to end up like Tobias or his father.

Tobias knew that Owen may not agree with his ways, but he didn't care. He was here to do a job, nothing more. Tobias just stood in the same spot for a few minutes, trying to work out what exactly it was he was seeing in this place.

* * *

**Author's note: Well, first I'd like to say happy new year in advance, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Oh, and more thanks to Hironada and BigBossSonic for editing this, and to you people for reading it of course! And I know this is early but, happy new year everyone! It sure has been quite a year for me, hopefully next year will be better! Oh, and the winner of the story vote, the story formally known as 'Story 2' will now be called 'The evil of love', and it shall be uploaded on the very first day of next year! Already worked out the plot, it's gonna be a long one, perhaps just as long as this story. Anyway, I wish ya all the best! :3**


	46. The wait

Kovick was stunned as he saw Bruce kiss Kiara on her cheek when they thought no one else was looking at them. 'Well, looks like they're interested in each other after all!' Kovick thought to himself as he noticed Owen walking back over to the car, he was bored, so he decided to walk over to him. He found Owen to be an interesting person, Kovick very nearly became an agent himself, he was glad he didn't, Owen didn't sound very happy with his life and Tobias seemed like a total loner, he wasn't sure if that was to do with the fact that his job required him to work alone or if it was just his preference, but either way, that old agent didn't look so happy himself.

Owen opened the driver side door and looked behind himself to see Kovick now approaching him. "Oh, didn't see you behind me. Do you need something?" he inquired.

"No, no... Just wanted to talk, I'm a little bored." Kovick said.

"Things might spring to life soon though. Come on then, let's talk." Owen said as he climbed into the car.

Kovick walked around the car and got into one of the passenger's seats, there were two passenger seats at the front of the car so he closed the door behind himself and moved along one seat. "Can we camp somewhere warmer next time? We might all end up with a cold as bad as Bruce's." Kovick stated.

"Doubtful, well, not as bad as Bruce's anyway. Not unless the whole team starts hugging a bunch of Glaceons." Owen replied with a small smirk on his face.

Kovick chuckled a little before saying, "At least they're getting along very well now."

"Yeah, they've went from swearing and cursing to... Swearing and cursing whilst hugging a little." Owen said before chuckling.

"I know they're both good people really, I hope they're happy together." Kovick told him.

"Yeah... I hope we finish this mission soon, it feels like I've been on it for an eternity now." Owen stated.

"How long have you been working on this mission?" Kovick asked him.

"A little over a year." Owen answered.

"How long have you been an agent for?" Kovick inquired.

"A long time, I probably shouldn't reveal too much... You seem interested in my past quite a lot." Owen replied.

"I am, I almost became an agent. Glad I didn't though. It sounds really tough." Kovick responded.

"It is." Owen simply said.

"Do you ever regret becoming an agent?" Kovick curiously asked him.

"I... I honestly don't know. If I didn't become an agent, I would have missed out on the best and worst moments of my entire life." Owen stated.

"What do you think was the best moment then?" Kovick asked him.

"Well that's easy. The moment I found out Chase loved me... I'll never forget that night." Owen said as old memories came flooding back, and a small smile formed on his face.

"And your worst moment?" Kovick asked, partly already regretting asking.

"I'm not sure... I've had so many horrific moments in my life... I've seen some of my best friends die, I've been tortured, drugged, I've had so many near death experiences that I can't even keep track of them anymore. But right now there's one I just can't get off my mind." Owen stated as he looked down to the wheel of the car.

Kovick had a good idea as to what he was going to say next. "It's Chase, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah... He's a great man... There's not a single day that goes by that I don't think about him." Owen stated.

"What happened between you two anyway?" Kovick inquired.

"I had a choice... Live with Chase and try to live a normal life that could be destroyed by Silas, or I could go after Silas and save countless lives... But leave Chase feeling betrayed." Owen let out a pained sigh after he said that.

Kovick was surprised, but there were a few questions on his mind. "Why couldn't Chase have come along with you?" he quickly asked.

"Because... There was an accident in one of our missions... After that accident, Chase told me he'd be leaving the agency and taking up a job as a security guard at some big fancy building in some city. He told me he didn't want to see me get hurt, he pleaded with me over and over again... He knew the only way to stop me from risking my life. To go after Silas would be to risk our relationship... There have been very few difficult decisions like that in my life... Every single day, I wonder what would have happened if I had just left the agency to live with Chase... All I ever wanted was a normal life, but I couldn't have that, and I don't think I'll ever have that." Owen said as he could feel a slight lump in his throat. Just talking about it was enough to bring back some pretty powerful emotions.

Kovick could see that Owen was hurting on the inside, although he did a great job of not showing it. "You can still have a normal life... After all this is over, you can just quit and leave the agency, and then you can go find your man!" Kovick happily said.

"I hope it'll all work out like that... Anyway, I've talked a lot about my life and you haven't told me much about yours, come on, tell me some stuff." Owen replied as he smiled.

"I don't think there's much you don't know about me with that dossier of info you had on me." Kovick responded with a small smile on his face.

"That dossier didn't have everything about your life in it." Owen told him.

Kovick nodded before asking, "What do you want to know then?"

"Well, what are your parents like?" Owen curiously asked.

"Well, they're both nice... I remember some of my friends saying they wish they had parents like mine. My dad wasn't like any of my friends dads, and I don't mean that because he's a Gallade. A lot of my friends were scared or hated their dads, but I always felt like I could go to my dad for anything. And my mother, well, she's still overprotective of me even now. I know she means well but sometimes I just felt like I had to break free a little." Kovick stated.

"Do you still talk to them?" Owen inquired.

"Yes, I visit them from time to time too. The last time I was there, I talked to my father about that girl I like, Aneko... I told him she's a Ninetales, and he told me to just tell her how I feel. I want to but I always get too nervous when I'm about to." Kovick admitted.

"I understand how you're feeling." Owen told him as he remembered how long it took him to muster the courage to reveal how he really felt about Chase.

"How long did it take you to tell Chase how you felt?" Kovick inquired, forgetting whether or not he had asked the question before.

"About three years... I was just so nervous, I didn't even think he'd be interested in me because.. Well, I just never thought he'd go for another guy. Anyway, we were talking about you weren't we?" Owen asked as he tried to get the conversation back on topic.

"Oh.. yeah. Well, anything you want to know, just ask away." Kovick said as he smiled.

"How did your parents meet?" Owen inquired with curiosity in his voice.

"Oh... Err, well, apparently they met while they were shopping, nothing really that special. They just kind of bumped into each other, started talking and started seeing each other. They said it was like a love at first sight kind of thing." Kovick explained.

"How long have they been together now?" Owen asked as he imagined Kovick's parents just meeting and falling in love. He wondered just how happy his parents must have been when they first saw Kovick.

"They've been together for a long time, they may complain a little to each other but most of the time, you can't separate the two of them for a second. They're a little bit like Richard and Tera, you can't really remember seeing one without seeing the other." Kovick replied with a warm smile.

Owen chuckled before saying, "It's almost like they're glued to each other, they look good together."

Owen and Kovick talked on through the night, moving on from random subject to random subject. Meanwhile, Richard and Tera were just happily cuddling and talking. Richard kissed Tera's lips before saying, "I think Bruce really likes Kiara, they both seem really close now."

Tera nodded and smiled as she said, "I wanted to talk to Kiara today, but I didn't want to pull her away from Bruce."

"Do you think that they're in a relationship now?" Richard asked her.

"I'm not sure but it seems like it. I hope they are, Kiara deserves to have someone." Tera replied as she cuddled into Richard a little more.

Richard smiled before kissing the top of Tera's head. "Speaking of deserving to have someone, how could a beautiful person such as you not have a partner back in the clan you grew up in? There must have been many men interested in you." Richard said as he looked into her eyes.

Tera blushed before saying, "I don't think they were interested. Many of my people already had someone, and I wasn't interested in anyone... Well, not until I met you."

Richard grinned as he said, "I know how you felt then. I wasn't really attracted to anyone back when I was a mercenary, and then I met you. I found it hard to stop looking at you because you look so pretty and every time we talked, I just found myself falling for you even more. I never had a problem facing life or death situations, but when I thought about telling you how I feel, I got more nervous than I could ever remember feeling. "

Tera then quickly kissed Richard's lips before she whispered, "You're the most perfect person I've ever met. I'll protect you with my life."

"And I'll protect yours with mine." Richard told her before kissing her nose.

Tera shortly found herself locked in another passionate kiss with her human lover, moaning as she felt his hands caress her body intimately. She hugged him as tightly as she could without hurting him with the sharp spike on her chest.

A few minutes later, Louis and Reaper were both walking around the camp. They were both asked by Tobias to watch for anything suspicious. They were both bored and they were starting to get a little sleepy, so Reaper decided to try starting a conversation. "Hey, kid... If I liked a human girl, what would you say about that?" he asked.

Louis immediately looked at him, a little shocked that he even asked that question. "I'm... Not sure what I would say about that." he honestly replied.

That wasn't really the answer Reaper was hoping for, but he knew his answer would be something like that. "Would you think of me any differently if I did like a human girl?" Reaper asked him as he stopped walking.

Louis let out a small sigh as he looked into Reaper's eyes and said, "I'm not sure... But I wouldn't try and stop you from going out with this girl. You've stuck with me through everything. It's only fair that I do the same for you."

Reaper knew Louis wouldn't be happy if he was interested in a human girl, but he felt happy knowing that he wouldn't lose Louis if he did fall in love with one. "Good." Reaper simply responded as he began walking again.

Meanwhile, Tobias was just over two hundred meters away from the camp, lying prone on the cold icy ground next to two large boulders, hoping he could find whatever it was he thought he saw not so long ago. He kept looking around himself as he waited, but tried to stay as quiet and as still as possible. He was used to the wait because he had done this many times before. He lay there for about half an hour, before he was finally rewarded for his wait. A man about 30 meters away from him walked into his field of vision, but Tobias had trouble tracking him because of the trees around him. He didn't want to lose the man, so after he slowly got up and looking around himself for other people, he then followed the man.

The man crouched down beside a tree as he looked through powerful binoculars, down to the camp. The expression on the man's face changed from one of determination to confusion as he saw a man and a Glaceon kissing right in the middle of the camp, leading him to believe he might be in the wrong place. He put down his binoculars, unaware that Tobias was right behind him. Almost as soon as he put down his binoculars, the man felt something that felt like a wire wrap around his neck as he was forced down onto the snowy ground. He tried getting up but it felt like someone was sitting on his back, he was about to shout, but then the wire quickly moved back and forth, cutting through his throat. The man could only make a few gruesome gurgling noises as he kicked at the snowy ground to try free himself, but he knew it was too late, the wire saw had already went in too deep. His vision began to get blurred, the last things he felt was the cold ground he was forced onto, the warm blood that now gushed from his neck, and the metal wire saw tearing apart the flesh of his neck.

* * *

**Author's note: hironada and BigBossSonic edited dis! Err, can't really think of anything to say. My eyes are hurting and I'm pretty sleepy. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this! I shall get some rest, I'll need it!**


	47. Nothing has changed

When Tobias was satisfied that the man he was on top of was now dead, he took his wire saw and used the slavers jacket to clean the blood off it. After that, he tucked the wire saw into one of his blazer pockets and calmly walked back to camp. He entered the camp, walking past Bruce and Kiara who were saying some of the dirtiest things Tobias had ever heard to each other, as he made his way over to the heavily armored car and tapped on the driver side window. He saw Owen jump in his seat a little as soon as he did so before Owen opened the door and asked, "Is something wrong?"

1 hour later...

The team had quickly packed up their stuff, and they were all now in the car. Richard and Tera were now both drifting in and out of sleep, waking up every time the car went over a big rock in the road. Kovick was doing the same, but when he was awake he looked over to Bruce and Kiara who were gazing at each other as they had an argument over who is the better kisser. The drunken man insisted that the drunken Glaceon in front of him was the better kisser, while she told him to shut up and tried to list the reasons that he was the better kisser. Tobias and Reaper were wide awake, and Louis, he just talked to them both for a while. "Tobias." Louis said to get his attention.

"Yes?" Tobias responded as he looked over to the man that said his name.

"Do you enjoy killing slavers?" Louis asked him.

"I used to." Tobias replied.

"Huh? Used to? What changed?" Louis questioned him.

"I've killed a lot of people, yet I don't see how I've changed anything. Silas is smart, if one of his most important men dies, he just quickly replaces them with someone else. He'll never run out of people, there's no shortage of people that like to kill." Tobias stated before looking down to the floor of the car, keeping his head down.

"How many people have you killed?" Louis asked.

"A lot." Tobias simply said.

"How many is a lot?" Louis inquired.

"I don't want to say." Tobias told him.

"Alright, I'll leave it." Louis replied as he now turned his head to look through the broken window of the car.

Meanwhile, Owen was thinking. He couldn't think of a good place to sleep for the night, it wasn't safe in the mountains, cities or motels. He felt like just giving up, but in the end he decided maybe it was best to sleep in hotels in the city, he thought that was the best option because the vipers and slavers would most likely not risk an attack in a large enough city. But he knew there would be a chance that Silas' men may attack, there would always be that risk.

Eventually, they found themselves driving through a city and found themselves stopping at a hotel before Owen gave a little speech. "We're staying here for the night. It looks like a nice place with good security. Everybody should watch what they eat or drink, don't have food that has been out of your sight for longer than a second. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried poisoning us at this point. There are a few shops around this place, I suggest you buy food from one of them." Owen said before climbing out of the car along with everyone else.

Almost as soon as Bruce got out of the car, he sneezed before mumbling a few words. "Fuckin' cold." he silently cursed.

Kiara smirked as she said, "Come on drunky, let's get your ass into bed."

Bruce chuckled a little before making a sniffing sound. "Wanna get me in again already?" he questioned her with a big smile on his face.

"Oh, shut up." Kiara replied before walking over to the hotel's revolving doors with Tera who got in with her.

Tera sighed as she said, "I hate these things."

"They're not bad when they're moving on their own, that way I don't have to try and push anything open." Kiara responded before stepping out of the revolving doors and into the hotel lobby with Tera.

"Kiara, can I ask you something?" Tera asked her.

"It's about Bruce, isn't it? Yes, I like him." Kiara quickly replied.

Tera smiled before saying, "There were times when I thought you would go for his neck."

"I sometimes thought that about you when both you and Richard were busy punching each other." Kiara said with a smile.

Tera giggled before saying, "That was just for fun."

"It was fun watching you two fighting." Kiara said with a smile, not mentioning that was not the only thing she had ever walked in on them doing.

Tera giggled a little before saying, "Maybe I should spar with him again soon, we don't hurt each other too badly."

"I remember Richard limping a little for a while after you kicked his leg." Kiara said with a smirk.

"I, errm... Made it up to him." Tera replied as she blushed a little before asking, "Have you and Bruce... Errm, done anything?"

Kiara smiled at the nervousness in Tera's voice before she nodded a little and said, "Yeah."

Just then, Bruce and Richard walked through the revolving doors after the rest of the team. The four of them walked up to the front desk with Owen and the others to get the keys to their rooms, and directions to get there. Tera looked around the place, the lobby was as big as the ball room back on the ship they traveled on, and it looked just as fancy too. She began to wonder if the room they'll stay in looks just as nice as the one on that ship.

One hour later, Tera was alone in her new room for the night. She was lying on the double bed in her room when she heard a knock at the door. She quickly opened her eyes and got up to walk over to the door which she then opened. She smiled as she saw Richard standing there with a plastic bag full of what she guessed was food and snacks. "Did you find that drink I like?" Tera asked curiously as she smiled.

"Yeah, it's in this bag." Richard begun as he walked in before Tera closed the door behind him. "Unova sells a lot of different foods and snacks compared to Hoenn." he said as he put the bag on the bed and searched through the bag.

"It's nice here but I like Hoenn more." Tera told him.

"So do I, but that's probably because I've spent a lot of time there. If I liked big cities then I'd like this place more." Richard replied as he took a bottle of flavored water out of the plastic bag and opened it for her before handing it over.

Tera then carefully took it from Richard, using both paws to hold it. "Thank you." she politely said before drinking a little of it before putting it on the bedside table. Suddenly, she felt Richard's arms wrap around her from behind as he kissed her neck. She blushed a little as a small moan left her mouth before she even realized it.

Richard smiled before he whispered, "So here we are, all alone together in an expensive hotel room."

Tera's mind suddenly became a dirty place as she smiled and said, "What are you planning, Richard?"

Richard smiled as he said, "I got us a little something when I was out getting us something to eat."

"What is it?" Tera curiously asked as she looked back to Richard who now began searching through the plastic bag and quickly found what he was looking for.

"These." Richard said as he now held a box.

"What are they?" Tera asked with a confused expression on her face.

Richard smiled and chuckled a little before saying, "They're condoms, if I wear them we won't have to worry about you getting pregnant while in the middle of this mission."

Tera now wore a grin on her face as she said, "Let's try them out."

Richard looked into her deep red eyes, he couldn't resist her. He knew as soon as he looked into her eyes, he'd do anything she wanted. Richard quickly found himself on top of Tera, passionately kissing her. He kissed her lips, her neck and kept on kissing down to her chest to tease her hard little nipples with his tongue. He heard Tera take a deep breath as soon as his tongue touched her sensitive spots. As he licked, one of his hands stroked down Tera's stomach, and drifted downwards, down her pelvis and down to the spot where her fur was damp, in between her thighs.

Kiara now walked passed Richard's and Tera's room when she heard what sounded like a moan coming from behind the door which she now looked at. She smirked as she realized that Richard and Tera were probably doing what Bruce and herself did. She now walked away from the door and stopped at the door just next to Richard's and Tera's room. "Hey, let me in!" Kiara shouted at the door, knowing that if Richard was back from the shops, he would be too.

A few seconds later, Bruce opened the door. Kiara could instantly tell he was drunk again before he said, "Hey ice queen, wanna have a little drink with me?"

Kiara still felt a little drunk off the drink she had back in the car with him but she nodded anyway and headed into his room. Judging from the smirk on Bruce's face, she guessed he planned to do more than just drink with her. Twenty minutes after she heard Bruce close the door behind her, she found herself struggling to stand up on Bruce's bed. Whatever that drink was Bruce gave her, it had gotten her drunk fast, but she didn't really care. "Can I get a kiss?" she asked with half-open eyes and a silly grin on her face.

Bruce could only barely understand her drunken slurred words which made him chuckle a little. "Sure." Bruce said before pulling her into a kiss. He felt her kissing back gently, and he felt her kiss getting softer and softer until she wasn't kissing at all. 'What the fuck?' Bruce thought he stopped kissing her and looked at her. She now had her eyes closed and her mouth open, and breathing in and out normally. 'She's fucking passed out. Great, no sex for me tonight.' Bruce thought to himself before just lying right next to her and closing his eyes. He began sniffling slightly, and a few seconds later he got up. 'Can't sleep with this fucking cold!' he thought before he walked over to the bathroom to find some toilet paper to blow his nose on.

Whilst Bruce did that, Owen was now in his room, stood beside the bed as he talked to Rhea through his earpiece. "Have you found him yet? We need just one more member and I think we'll have a team strong enough to at least give Silas some trouble dealing with the soldiers we'll send in after him." Owen told her.

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself. We all know Silas won't go down before he takes almost everyone else with him. I have an idea of where your man is, but I just need a few more hours to get a precise location." Rhea stated.

"Please hurry, I think Tobias is starting to get more and more alert the more time we spend in one place." Owen said to her.

"I'll try to find him ASAP, meanwhile, try not to get yourself killed." Rhea said before Owen heard a slight crackle through the earpiece which signaled the end of the conversation.

'She always gets the last word in.' Owen thought to himself before he sat on his bed and inspected his suppressed chrome handgun. He had the suppressor for this gun hidden away in the car for some time, but he had never used it in a real fire fight. He thought maybe he should just take the suppressor off it, he couldn't think of a use for it. The handgun was pretty loud even with the suppressor on it. He wished it was like the movies where if a person killed another person with a suppressed weapon, the people next door wouldn't hear. But that just wasn't the case in real life. He placed his handgun on the bedside table before walking into the bathroom to have a shower.

Meanwhile, Tobias was pacing back and forth in his room. He was deep in his own thoughts. 'How did they find us? Did they have an outpost in the mountains? It's unlikely that they followed us without any of us noticing. Maybe that slaver was just a scout for the vipers. If so, they'll know that we're going to be more alert. I need time to think up of a plan to draw them out and crush them. I'll need to talk to Richard and Owen.' he thought to himself.

He didn't want to just talk to them about the threat of the vipers, but he also wanted to talk to them about the teammates. He was concerned that Bruce's drinking, or his relationship with Kiara would be a problem. There was also the matter of Tera's and Richard's relationship he wanted to discuss too. He had no problem with them being together, but he did not want one of them losing their mind if their partner dies. Having a mentally unstable person on the team would be worse than being one more member short. He had a lot of unpleasant things to discuss, but all of those things suddenly went out of his mind when he heard a knock at his door.

* * *

**Author's notes: Hope everyone enjoyed this! And thank you to everyone who's read this! And since I can't thank you through a message, thank you to my more anonymous reviewers! Oh, and as always, thank you to BigBossSonic and hironada! Oh, and thanks to Zarfy for pointing out a mistake!**


	48. Not a drinker

"Who is it?" Tobias said loud enough to be heard through the door as he walked towards it.

"It's me, Reaper. I was just wondering if you'd like to join me and Louis for a drink." the Scyther on the other side of the door replied.

Tobias opened the door to meet face to face with Reaper. "I'm not a drinker." Tobias stated.

"That's fine. I'm not much of a drinker myself. I just thought maybe it'd be good if we could get to know each other a little more. We're going to be fighting side by side with each other after all." Reaper said to him.

Tobias' first thought was to decline his offer, but he began thinking about the situation a little more. He didn't want to get close to his new teammates, but it was a good idea to learn more about them. If he was going to be around these people, he wanted to know that he could trust them enough to turn his back on them without expecting a bullet in the back. "I'd like that." Tobias replied before walking out into the hallway and closing the door behind himself.

"Part of me thought you wouldn't join us. Let's go then." Reaper said as he walked down the hallway with a smile on his face. Tobias followed him closely from behind, remaining very vigilant as he followed the Scyther.

A few minutes later back in Richard's and Tera's room, they lay next to each other, panting heavily after just making love. Richard looked at Tera as he felt her paws stroking his chest. "Tera... If you get any better than this then you're going to have me passing out from the pleasure." Richard told her, taking in deep breaths. He could imagine actually passing out if he wasn't wearing that condom.

Tera blushed hard as she said, "Y-you were amazing yourself."

Richard took off his condom and threw it in the small bin nearby the bed. "I feel exhausted, and it's not even midnight." he said as he smiled.

"Remember our first time? It wasn't even night time when we did it then." Tera replied with a big smile on her face.

"That's one day I'll never forget." Richard responded as his smile turned into a grin.

Tera kissed Richard's cheek to stop him from going into a daydream as he thought about their first time. "I won't forget it for as long as I live." Tera begun as her blush brightened, "I didn't know how great it felt until you touched me down there."

"Did you ever touch yourself when you were back in your clan?" Richard casually asked her.

"I... did it a few times." Tera nervously admitted.

"How good did it feel?" Richard asked as he felt himself becoming aroused again.

"It felt good... But not as good as when you did it to me." Tera told him with a small smile on her face.

Upon hearing those words, Richard knew that he was going to need another condom soon. "Want me to do it for you again?" he asked with a smirk before watching her nod and grin.

Tobias was now sitting in Louis' room with Reaper who started up a conversation with him. "So Tobias. Where were you born?" Reaper asked.

"I probably shouldn't say, not yet anyway." Tobias stated. He didn't want to say anything that could point to where his family members may be living, there had been cases where families of soldiers or agents had been attacked because of what they do.

"Oh, alright. Any interesting stories to tell?" Reaper inquired, hoping to get the agent talking a little more.

"I have a few, but if you mean funny stories, then no." Tobias flatly replied.

'Man, he's quite the killjoy.' Reaper thought to himself. "Ever had a partner?" he asked.

Tobias gave him a confused look before asking, "As in a teammate, or a romantic partner?"

"The second one." Reaper said, before he picked up on the slightly sad look on his face.

"Yes, I did... I don't feel like talking about that just now though." Tobias replied as he tried to hide his emotions, and doing it well.

Reaper wasn't stupid, he could see that something troubled him but he thought that it'd be best just not to ask what was wrong. "Understood. Err, what made you want to become an agent?" Reaper asked.

"I don't know, I just fell into the job. I never wanted to become an agent, but the pay is good and you're respected by many people. I think I just ended up as an agent because when I was younger, I really liked money." Tobias replied.

"Do you still like money?" Reaper responded with a slight smile on his face.

"Not as much as I used to. I don't want a big house, or a nice car. I just want enough money to keep me alive." Tobias told him. "But enough questions about myself, I want to know more about you. Where were you born?" he asked.

"I was born in Kanto, in a small village of my own people." Reaper answered.

"How long have you known Louis for?" Tobias questioned him.

"A while, maybe ten or eleven years." Reaper told him.

Tobias then turned his attention to Louis who looked straight back at him. "Why did you join this mission and bring along your friend?" he asked.

"I joined because Owen told me I could find someone I was looking for. He helped me find him so I guess it's only fair I help him out in return." Louis said.

Tobias continued talking to them through the night, sometimes their conversations seemed to feel more like interrogations but at least they all learned something. Tobias learned that Reaper seemed like he is trust worthy and Louis might be a problem with the other people in the team. Louis learned that Tobias doesn't smile or laugh much and Reaper learned that the agent is somewhat depressing and that it wouldn't be a good idea to invite him to parties. Reaper thought that Tobias was very anti-social, but he guessed that was because of something that happened, or because of his job as an agent.

A few hours passed, and Kiara who was now sprawled out on the bed now began to slowly open her tired eyes. She had a bad taste in her mouth and a headache, but she could cope with it. She slowly got up onto her paws and looked behind her to see Bruce on the bed and sleeping. She also looked out of the window in the room to see it was still very very dark, she guessed it was midnight or very early in the morning. Suddenly, she saw Bruce starting to move around a little. She guessed that she must've woken him up somehow.

Bruce slowly sat upright and looked to his side to see Kiara looking back at him. "You're awake? Heh, bet you're feeling like shit." he said as he sniffled a little.

"I'm not feeling as bad as you look." Kiara replied with a smirk.

Bruce chuckled before saying, "I'm not feeling too fresh right now, wanna help me take my mind off my stupid blocked up nose? It's annoying the fuck out of me."

Kiara ginned as dirty thoughts filled her mind. "Depends, wanna help me take my mind of my headache?"

"Sure, anything to put a smile on your face ice queen." Bruce said before he quickly pushed Kiara onto her back, taking her by surprise.

Her mouth opened to say something, but all that came out were moans as she felt Bruce's warm fingers at her crotch. She looked up to Bruce with a look of excitement, knowing what was coming next.

Meanwhile, Kovick walked past their room, and stopped for a brief second when he heard what sounded to him like a moan. 'They should really get these rooms soundproofed.' Kovick thought to himself before he heard a door opening behind himself, causing him to look over his shoulder at the person coming out of the room.

Owen walked out and quickly noticed Kovick standing in the hallway. "Hey Kovick, is everyone in their rooms? I have something to ask them." he told him.

"Yeah but I think some of them are... Err, I just think some people need some time alone with each other." Kovick said with a slight smile on his face.

"Well once they're not busy, tell everyone that if there is a gun they want or if they need more ammo, then come see me. Any gun you want?" Owen asked.

"Any gun? Even grenade launchers?" Kovick questioned him.

"You can have one of those and a rocket launcher if you want." Owen informed him.

"Okay, I want an L85A2." Kovick told him.

"Are you a right handed shooter?" Owen inquired.

"Yeah." Kovick replied, leaving him a little confused as to why Owen asked that question.

"I thought so. Any other gun you want?" Owen asked him.

"Hmm... Can I get a 1911 too?" Kovick responded.

"Yes, you can. That's all I wanted to ask you." Owen said before he turned around to walk back into his room, until he heard Kovick's words.

"Owen, wait!" Kovick almost shouted in an urgent tone of voice.

"What is it?" Owen asked as he turned around to face the medic.

"Err... Could you do me a favor?" Kovick said to him as he began to feel nervous.

"Alright, what is it you want me to do?" Owen asked as he looked at the medic quizzically.

"Err, never mind." Kovick said as he turned around and walked away from Owen at a quick pace.

Owen was left confused and wondering what Kovick was about to ask him. He noticed Kovick seemed nervous and hesitant to tell him something. He knew it must have been something quite important to Kovick. Owen walked back into his room and contacted Rhea to set up a meeting with their weapons supplier.

While Owen did that, Tobias was now looking out of his window. He was just staring out of it, looking out onto other buildings and onto the street. He wondered if there was someone watching him right now, because it sure felt like it to him. It was almost as if he could see an imaginary red laser dot on his chest. He bet that that through one of the windows of one of these other buildings, there was a sniper just like him, just watching him like he did to many of his targets. He knew that even if there was a sniper watching him, they wouldn't chance the shot, not unless they wanted to alert his teammates.

Tobias now closed the curtains to his window, not wanting to take a chance and end up with a hole through his chest and back. He now lay down on his bed for the night as he began wondering how it'd be possible for such a small group to kill a man who has a powerful army backing him up. As he closed his eyes, only one answer was in his head. To start a war against Silas, this time with the support of more than one region.

* * *

**Author's note: Alright! So the team have had enough time to get to know each other don't you think? Time to move on to the real action! Oh! And again thank you to readers/reviewers/awesome people and also thank you to BigBossSonic and hironada for once again editing this.**


	49. More than a little coincidental

The next day had dawned and the sun was now beginning to rise. Kiara opened her eyes to find herself on the bed with Bruce's arms wrapped around her body. She felt him kiss the back of her head which made her smile. Part of her didn't think Bruce could be this affectionate, but then again, she hadn't really expected him to say that he loved her after they mated. She wondered if Bruce had been kissing her as she slept, or if he had done it just because he noticed her waking up. "Bruce." Kiara quietly said.

"Yeah?" Bruce replied.

Kiara grinned as she said, "I'm going to be on top next time."

Bruce chuckled as he thought about her getting on top of him and shouting dirty things at him. "Oh, is that so, ice queen?" he responded with a little smirk on his face.

"If I have to fight you to be on top, I will." Kiara told him before giggling.

"Alright, I'll let you on top next time. But you better put on a good show for me." Bruce said before stroking her right cheek.

Kiara's grin grew before she said, "I have something special planned for you next time we're alone."

"Can't wait to see what you have planned for me, you horny little ice rat." Bruce chuckled before quickly kissing her lips and standing up. "Still got that fucking cold." he quietly said to himself as he walked towards the bathroom.

While that was happening, Owen was now talking to Rhea about the location of the new recruits. "So our guy has some company then, a Gardevoir? Usually they don't like to be associated with people from Kanto, must have grew up together." Owen guessed.

"Well you can ask them when you meet them." Rhea replied.

"What are they doing here in Unova anyway? It's more than a little coincidental don't you think?" Owen asked.

"Do you think he may be working for Silas?" Rhea questioned him, already knowing the answer to that question.

"It would explain why the private survived where the rest did not, but I doubt he's working with Silas. But it's still a possibility we should keep in mind, can never be too careful." Owen responded.

"Especially when it comes to janitor's closets." Rhea mocked him before she chuckled a little.

"Damn closets get me all the time. Anyway, I'm on my way to wake up the others and get to the arms dealer before heading out to pick up our guy and the Gardevoir. Talk to you later Rhea." Owen said before she said goodbye and the line between the two was quickly cut.

A few hours later...

Everyone was back in the car, after visiting a man with a load of guns in his van. Kovick got his guns and so did Louis where as everyone else got ammo instead, or didn't get anything at all. Kovick's gun, an LA85A2 is an assault rifle that was a bullpup style gun, meaning the magazine is behind the trigger. He picked the gun because he had used it before, and was very familiar with it. In his hands, it was a very deadly weapon. Louis had picked the M4 assault rifle for a different reason. He had seen people shooting them in movies. He didn't really know much about guns and had only really shot pistols before, so he just got one of the rifles he recognized. Louis hoped that he wouldn't get into too many firefights, he had only managed to kill slavers before by catching them by surprise.

Owen was driving the car on seemingly abandoned road in the middle of the forest, but they were close to where Rhea said their recruits would be. Everything was quiet, mostly because Kiara was asleep and Bruce didn't seem to want to get on anyone's nerves today. Things seemed to be going normally, until everyone heard the sound of a car catching up to them from the right side of their car within what seemed to only be a second. Owen quickly looked to his right to see a jeep charging down a dirt path directly towards them. Before anyone could say anything, the jeep rammed straight into the side of the car and before anyone actually registered what had happened they were tumbling around inside the car. When everyone stopped tumbling, most of them were groaning in pain, but not Tobias.

The first thing the gray haired agent did after realizing the car was resting on its roof was to crawl off Kovick and over to the cracked window. He saw people quickly getting out of the green jeep that had rammed them and grabbing assault rifles, mostly AK-47s. The next thing he saw were grenades landing at their feet, and nearby the car. "Grenade!" Tobias shouted to the others as he covered his face with his arms while several deafening bangs went off, followed by what sounded like shots from sniper rifles which were quickly followed by automatic gunfire. Tobias guessed that the grenades that were thrown were flashbangs since they were still alive, but the question was who was throwing them.

The whole team was completely disorientated. Most of them couldn't see straight and the ones that could, only saw their teammates crawling off each other. By the time the gunfire had stopped, everyone had regained most of their senses. Reaper now looked around for Louis, and saw him getting out of the car through the smashed out window. "Louis!" Reaper shouted out to him, knowing he could get himself killed if those people were still out there.

Louis crawled out on his stomach, out onto the dirt. He guessed that the car must have been completely run off the road and towards the forest. He had his rifle in his left hand and nothing else in the other. He rolled onto his back and took a look at his right forearm which had a massive cut in it. Blood dripped down his arm, it was bleeding profusely, yet he could hardly even feel it.

"Louis!" Reaper shouted again to get his attention.

Louis now got on his feet and was now crouching with his back towards the car as he looked all around him, backing back up towards the broken window. "I'm bleeding." Louis quickly said back to Reaper in an almost panicked tone of voice.

"Keep your head down and don't panic." Reaper said back to him, sounding calm despite his gut feeling that this might be the end of them.

"I'm not moving anywhere." Louis said back to him as he kept looking from side to side and occasionally at his wound. He couldn't tell how deep or long it was with all the blood, but he guessed the cut must have been about five inches long. He guessed one of Reaper's claws accidentally slashed into his arm when they were tumbling around.

Everything was quiet for a few seconds, until all the humans on the team with an earpiece received a message from what sounded like a male human. "If anyone is still alive down there, hold your fire. We're friendlies."

Owen immediately replied through his earpiece and asked, "Who is this I'm speaking to?"

"Call me Mark, we were tipped off that they'd ambush you by your friend, Rhea. Anyway we've got your recruits here and we're coming down with them now, so don't fire on us." Mark responded.

Owen sighed as he realized that Rhea had just willingly dropped him into an ambush without telling him. He guessed she had her reasons, but he was more than a little annoyed with her right now. "We'll hold our fire, come on down." Owen replied before looking towards the smashed out window that everyone was crawling out of.

Tobias however was not moving towards the window. "We don't know if they're friendlies yet, you better be ready if they start firing on us." he warned him.

"Don't worry, I'm always careful." Owen told him before crawling out of the window.

Richard was now crouching by the car with Tera, looking at everyone that crawled out. He realized that both Tera and himself were lucky, they had only got thrown around inside the car and would probably only end up aching a little, but some others looked more bashed up than they did. Louis was the worst, his right arm was covered in blood. Bruce now had a cut on his bottom lip right in the middle that now left a trail of blood down his chin, he tried tried wiping it away but it only smudged the blood around his face. Everyone else looked pretty much unharmed which was pretty surprising to Richard.

Tera now looked at Richard and asked, "Did you get hurt?"

"No, not badly anyway. What about you?" Richard asked in response.

"I'm fine, and I hope those people over there are friendly." Tera said as she pointed towards a group of people that were now coming towards them from the other side of the road, from where the jeep had come from.

Everyone that had a gun was holding it, ready to pull their triggers if the people heading towards them were hostile. A group of eight people cautiously inched towards them, past the jeep that had rammed into Owen's car. They stepped over the bodies of the slavers they had killed as they approached the team. Owen approached the group that wore ghillie suits and face paint. He noticed that the majority of them carried sniper rifles. One man stepped forward, most of his face was obscured by the paint and clothing he wore but he could tell by the sound of his voice that this was the man he had talked to over his earpiece.

"These are your recruits. Good luck on your mission." the man simply said as two people stepped forward, a Gardevoir and a man as the rest of the team walked away back towards where they came from.

Bruce walked over to Owen and asked, "Where the fuck are they going? Couldn't they at least help us get our ride upright?"

Owen shrugged and said, "Maybe they have more important things to do."

Bruce now turned his attention to the two people in ghillie suits and looked at the male human, who he recognized. "Hey... This is that guy from Kanto isn't it? Shit, I forgot his name now." Bruce said out loud.

"My name is Robert." the man replied.

"Yeah, that's the one!" Bruce exclaimed before he realized something. "Oh... Fuck no!" Bruce shouted as he ran back over to the car as Kiara looked on curiously. He quickly went back around the car and climbed back into it through the broken window before he spoke again. "It's fucking happened AGAIN! Fucking cock suckers! They really know how to piss me off!" Bruce yelled.

The Gardevoir looked at Owen and stuttered, "W-what's wrong w-with him?"

Owen sighed and said, "By the sound of things, his drinks have gotten smashed."

Kiara giggled at Bruce before sarcastically saying, "Oh, it's a living nightmare."

Bruce looked back over his shoulder towards Kiara and sighed. "If I didn't have something better than booze then I'd be really pissed off."

Kiara looked at him and said, "I'm better than your drinks? Ohh, how touching."

"Feeling bitchy today are we?" Bruce retorted.

"Yep!" Kiara said with a grin.

"Heh, never change." Bruce quietly said to her before crawling away from the car and picking up his combat shotgun.

Owen ignored the others and turned his attention back to the two people in front of him. "I can't remember if I told Robert before so I'll just say right now, my name is Owen. I picked everyone that's here to be here for a reason. I am not the leader of this team, I gave that job to Richard." he stated as he pointed to the man talking to the Lucario. Just as he did that, he began to wonder if these two were in a relationship, but he pushed that thought out of his head after he remembered that they're from Kanto. "He's a friendly person. You can talk to him if you have any further questions. But now, I'm going to say this once. If you want out of this mission, now is the only time to back out." he told them.

Robert looked to the Gardevoir besides him before looking back to Owen. "We'll go with you guys." he replied.

Owen smiled as he said, "Good, now we'll sort out the problem with our injured and try and get our car upright."

Meanwhile, Kovick was crouched next to Louis, now bandaging up his arm. "That's the best I can do right now." he stated.

Louis looked at his bandaged forearm and said, "It's better than nothing."

Kovick stood up and began to walk away, until he heard a few unexpected words from Louis.

"Thanks Kovick, I'm sorry about pissing you off before. I didn't mean to." Louis told him.

Kovick looked back to him and said, "It's okay, everyone has different views."

Shortly after he said that, he walked over to the others to check if anyone was injured. Now, Reaper walked over to Louis and said, "Sorry about the arm."

Louis smiled slightly before saying, "Things could've been worse."

"I'm feeling sorry for you, first a bullet grazes your thigh and now this." Reaper said back to him.

Louis chuckled before saying, "I'm not sure if I'm unlucky, or really lucky to still even be alive."

"I'd say a bit of both." Reaper said before looking over to the other people around them who now looked like they were preparing for something. "I think the others are planning to flip the car." Reaper said.

"I'd help them but..." Louis said before he pointed to his forearm.

Reaper just chuckled before saying, "You're just lazy."

"Don't let anyone else know that or they might get me to do something useful." Louis joked before standing up and now watching the others attempt to flip over the car.

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**Author's notes: Okay, thanking the usual people! hironada and BigBossSonic for editing these, the readers for reading, and... Well, that's just about it. :3**


	50. Viper bait

A few minutes had now passed, and now the car was flipped upright. It was badly bashed up, and some even began to wonder if the car would even work after what it had been through. While some of the others were thinking about the car, Tobias had one thing on his mind, and that was the dead bodies in front of him. They were the bodies of the people from the jeep, and as he searched through them, a few more queries came up in his mind. 'They were wearing plain clothes, no slaver jackets, no insignias, possibly mercenaries. Or possibly slavers wearing plain clothes. Or more likely, criminals funded by slavers from one of the nearby cities.' he thought to himself before standing up and heading back over to the beaten up car.

Bruce threw away a soaking wet backpack filled with broken bottles and made his way back into the car. "Have to get shot at while sober now." Bruce sighed to himself.

Kiara then looked at him. "Something's are better while sober." she said before giving him a little wink which brought a smirk to his face.

While Bruce and Kiara were talking dirty again, Owen switched on the engine of the car, which thankfully came on without any problems. "This is one toughly built car." Owen said to himself as he heard Tobias enter and close the door. Robert was sitting upfront with Owen and his Gardevoir friend which meant there wasn't a single seat left unfilled in the car. The Gardevoir felt kind of bad by not saying she could have used her powers to flip the car, but they had flipped the car over before she could even suggest it. Owen started driving, he didn't know where to, he just decided that out in the open and on the road wasn't the safest of places.

Owen had decided on traveling to the closest city, he didn't know where he was heading but he didn't really care. There were some things eating away at him. Suddenly, he heard Rhea's voice through his earpiece.

"Owen, I'm sorry." Rhea quickly apologized.

Owen sighed before saying, "I never expected you'd be the one to lead me into an ambush."

"I'm sorry, but people are starting to think that the vipers are already listening into our conversations. We couldn't let them know that we already knew about the ambush they set up by informing you." Rhea informed him.

"Just promise me you won't lead us into another trap, I don't trust that many people as it is." Owen told her.

"I'll try not to, bye Owen." Rhea said before the conversation was cut short.

Owen thought Rhea was not telling him something. He had known her long enough to tell when she was keeping a secret. She'd tell him what she was hiding, she always did. At least that's what he thought.

While Owen was thinking of Rhea, Tobias was wondering about the vipers and the two newcomers. He only looked at them for a while whilst they were getting out of their ghillie suits but it was enough to get a good look at them. The female Gardevoir was different from most, she had blue hair. But other than that, she seemed normal. The male human besides her, Robert, he had blackish-brown hair, green eyes, and was about the same size as Richard. The thing that struck him most about Robert was his cheek bones; they were quite high and well formed. To Tobias, Robert seemed like more the more agile and cunning type. But he only thought that because of his body shape. It was easy for him to tell that Robert was the military type. Tobias could usually read people pretty clearly, but he knew there was something about Robert that wasn't so clear.

Tobias got his mind off Robert and the Gardevoir and began thinking about the vipers. He didn't like the possibility of vipers just watching every little thing they do, he wanted to destroy them as soon as possible. He was planning to try and pull Richard and Owen to the side and inform them of a plan he had been thinking about for a while. A plan to draw out the vipers and force them to attack. He knew there was the very high chance that one or more of the team could die whilst doing this, but he thought it was better than waiting to be blown up by few well positioned charges in a road.

Sometime later, Owen found himself driving around a city. He had been thinking about certain things, about the mission and the people he had been traveling with, and had previously traveled with. He felt like he was steadily warming up to them. He remembered the first time he met Richard and Tera, he didn't think he was very friendly with them at first. And the same with Robert, he remembered he threatened to have him discharged if he didn't follow his orders to get on that helicopter. He regretted that now after seeing the company he now had with him. He wasn't usually that unfriendly to people he first meets, but he just seemed to adopt a bad attitude towards other people since about one year ago. He knew the reason why, he just didn't want to think it. It was the same reason he sometimes felt like he was losing his mind, and why his hallucinations had started popping up again.

Tobias was now looking at the smashed up window of the car. He could see shops and hotels, he wasn't interested in the hotels, but some of the places they passed gave him an idea. "Find us a bar and pull over." Tobias said to them.

"Why?" Owen asked.

"Do it." Tobias firmly ordered.

Richard didn't like Tobias' tone, but he knew that Tobias must have a good reason to stop at a bar. "I don't have a problem with stopping at the bar." Richard said to Owen.

Bruce smirked as he muttered. "Neither do I."

Kiara frowned at him. "You're not going to be sucking away at those beer taps are you?" she questioned him.

"No, no... I'll go for the vodka." Bruce replied with a devious chuckle. She could see she wasn't all that pleased by his words, but that was the reaction he wanted. She looked so cute to him when she was angry. Just before she was about to say something, he leaned in and whispered a few words. "Don't worry, I could always suck away at something else, preferably something on your body." he quietly said to her.

"I'd like that." Kiara responded, sounding a little seductive to Bruce.

Tera could hear everything they were saying, she tried not to but some words caught her attention. She was beginning to wonder if all male humans had the same effect on female Pokémon because she had never really thought about mating, until she met Richard. Then there was Lucy who fell in love with Ethan, but she wasn't sure if they had mated or not. Now there's Bruce and Kiara. 'Maybe we just kind of attract each other.' Tera thought to herself with a smile on her face.

Owen parked the car up a few meters away from a bar before saying, "I'd like to know why you told us to go to a bar."

Tobias had already begun to exit the car ahead of the others before saying anything back. "I can't tell you, but I suggest you head to the bar and stay together." he replied before walking away from the bar.

Everybody was confused, but they did as they were asked. They went straight to the bar, with Bruce and Kiara leading the way.

Just under half an hour had passed, and Tobias was now deep in the city. He had a plan, it wasn't a very clever one, but at this point, he was just desperate to do something. He felt utterly useless, just traveling around and sleeping in the forest or hotels. He guessed Owen must have been waiting for something. He was used to waiting, but he always knew what he was waiting for when he did so. That's why he was now out on the streets and walking through numerous back alleys. He was doing this for a reason, he knew the vipers were already all over their trail, and they probably even knew that he was trying to draw them out. They probably even knew what he was planning to do if he did successfully draw one out, which he now thought he did. He only caught a few glimpses, but he saw a man in a brown suit, quite expensive looking, with a black tie. Tobias didn't get a good look at his face, but he didn't need to. He had seen him five minutes ago, and a two more times before that. Tobias knew the chances of that happening with a stranger, was slim. Unless, they were being followed by him.

Tobias briskly walked down another back alley, there were a few dumpsters and a load of trash just scattered around. Some of the bin bags he saw looked like they had been torn open, most likely by the homeless and desperate. There was a door to his left which led into a building, which he then entered after learning the door opened outwards into the alley.

A few seconds later the man in the brown suit came walking down the alley and immediately looked towards the door. The man, who had shoulder length light brown hair, then attempted to open the door. As soon as the door was open by a couple of inches, it was suddenly flung outwards with great force. The door had struck the man to the side of the face, on his cheekbone which felt as if it had been broken. He stumbled backwards a few feet very quickly before tripping and hitting the back of his head against a hard metal dumpster. He was sprawled on the floor, his head resting against the dumpster, he felt like he was going to pass out. Even though he was dazed and in serious pain, he tried to scramble up feet but only ended up with backing up into the dumpster he hit his head against. He looked up to the man he had been tracking, but only saw his face for one tenth of a second before he felt the man kick the side of his face that had been struck with the door.

Tobias could see the man was in agonizing pain, but this man could handle pain well, so well in fact that he was now reaching into his pants pocket for something, but one more kick to the side of the head stopped the man in the suit from doing anything. Tobias sure hoped that this man was a viper, he had no idea how he could explain all of this if he wasn't a viper. He looked around for any potential witnesses or threats as he grabbed both legs of the man he just knocked out, and dragged him into the building he had walked into. He could see the man was bleeding from his mouth, he didn't want him to drown in his own blood, and he hoped he didn't damage his face too badly. Tobias needed him to talk.

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**Author's notes: Thank you to hironada and BigBossSonic for editing this! Oh, and thank you to everyone for reading! Oh! And expect a new story from me to be up some time this week!  
**


	51. Speak now

Slowly, the nameless man in the brown suit slowly awoke, with the taste of fresh blood in his mouth. He woke up to find he was tied down to an old metal chair. His right and left legs were individually tied to the front right and left legs of the chair by some kind of strong black cord. His hands were behind him and the chair, they were tied but he couldn't see what with. He quickly looked around the room he was in, the floors were dusty, and there was light shining in through the broken windows. The white paint on the walls were peeling away, it was clear this building had been abandoned for a while. The room was almost completely empty, but there was one thing in the room beside the door only a few meters away from him. It was a small white metal table. On the table was a knife and a M9 handgun with a silencer attached. He tried to think of a way to get to them, but the idea left his mind as quickly as it had come when he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He looked over to his right as he saw the man he was trying to track down, his target, Tobias.

Tobias now walked over to the table in front of his bound prisoner, and picked up the M9 handgun. "You've been following me... This gun, and that knife, was on you when I searched you. You're a viper." Tobias concluded as he looked towards the man who said nothing back, only returning an unsettling glare. "Talk now, and you might live." Tobias said to the man who said nothing in return. They both stared at each other for around a few seconds, the only noise being the very faint sound of traffic outside. After a few seconds, of staring, Tobias quickly raised the suppressed handgun and pulled the trigger, the gunshot echoing in the nearly totally empty room.

The man in the chair instinctively put his head down as soon as he heard the gunshot, then he quickly looked back up to Tobias, realizing that was only meant to scare him. "Tell me how many vipers they are, where they are now, and where they will be." Tobias demanded as he pointed the gun directly at his head.

The man didn't reply, but by the look on his face, he knew things were not going to end well for him. Tobias waited a few seconds for him to respond, but he quickly realized that the man was not going to talk without a lot of convincing. He walked over to the table that now only had the sharp six inch steel knife and quickly picked it up before walking back over to the tied up man. Tobias got down on one knee and put the suppressed handgun on the floor as he used the knife to cut into the fabric of the man's pants around his left knee. The man began to panic as he watched Tobias now pull open the cut in his pants that he made to fully expose his knee.

Tobias tapped the cold knife on the man's knee before saying, "I plan on removing your knee caps, and then your fibular, and then your toes if you survive long enough. Speak now, or die."

The man spat in Tobias' face as he become much more angry, before quickly becoming afraid. Tobias placed the blade just above the kneecap, before starting to apply pressure, the knife sliced deep into the flesh just above his knee. Blood rapidly streamed out of the new wound, as the knife was halted by the bone. The man thrashed around in his chair as he screamed, causing a few accidental cuts by the knife still in his knee. Tobias had cut a crescent shape over the kneecap where he planned to pull back the skin, but he waited for a minute and looked as the man continued to shout profanities and bleed. "Tell me where they are, and I will stop." Tobias calmly said.

"Fuck you! Fucking shit head! I won't fucking talk!" The man screamed as he watched Tobias lift the knife into the air before slamming it down at an angle into the knee, causing it to slip between the bones of the knee, and the femur. The man's body shook as his nerves sent pain signals to his brain. He screeched in agony. The Viper in the chair could feel blood running down his leg, beginning to soak his socks with warm crimson blood. The man could also feel that the knife had also cut straight through his knee, and out the back of it. He knew that Tobias had broken the bone. He looked down to the floor as he screamed, and saw a constantly expanding puddle of blood on the floorboard. All the screaming was making Tobias uneasy, he was unsure if civilians might able to hear the commotion. They were three floors up in an abandoned building, but he knew it may be a possibility. That wasn't all that was on his mind, he knew at this rate, he would have this man's lower left leg completely severed within a minute.

Jarred out of his thoughts, Tobias heard a door opening from somewhere within the building he was in. He remembered a creaky door down on the second floor, and realized it was the same one as he quickly pulled the knife out of the man's knee. The man screamed in pain, until three inches of blood stained steel sliced into his neck, leaving a massive bleeding gash and a multiple severed arteries. He blood spluttered out of his mouth and poured forth from his neck and town to his torso, only surviving a few seconds before his vision faded, followed by his life. Tobias decided to kill him because if the person in the building was a Viper, he didn't want them taking their teammate back alive if he was incapacitated, or killed. Tobias quickly dropped the knife and picked up the handgun, which had a few drops of blood on it. He quickly wiped off the droplets with the leather gloves he wore. Just as he did this, he noticed blood had splattered on his clothes at some point, but it was only really noticeable around his arms and hands.

Tobias quietly headed towards the door, and when he reached it, he quickly opened it with one hand while his other kept the handgun aimed forwards. The door flung open, but all that was there was an empty hallway, and all Tobias now heard was two footsteps, coming from behind him. Instinctively, he dived forward into the hallway, twisting around slightly before hitting the ground so he was now facing the doorway he jumped through. In the doorway, he saw a Gardevoir, dressed in black commando combat gear and holding a machete in her left hand. Tobias didn't need to think, he just pulled the trigger twice. The suppressed shots echoed in the rooms, the bullets only stopping when they were lodged deep inside the flesh of a body, but that body did not belong to the Gardevoir. The Gardevoir he was aiming for had vanished, teleported. His shots hit the man he had already killed twice in the forehead.

Tobias quickly got up off the ground, and kept his back to the wall. He had fought a lot of Pokemon in his life time, but to him, Gardevoirs were the worst. They were quick, agile, sneaky, and they had lots of tricks they could pull. They could snatch a gun from you without even touching it, teleport behind you or away from your bullets, and drag away objects like desks you're using for cover. In short, Tobias did not like it when he was up against them. Tobias quickly made his way through a series of rooms and halls before finding the staircase he used to get up to the third floor. Quickly, he stormed down the stairs, knowing that the Gardevoir most likely already knew his exact location. He knew there was a chance he wasn't going to get out of this one alive, that's why he decided to send out a message to the others. Tobias quickly pressed a small button on his earpiece that would allow him to get a message to the other members of the team wearing them. "I'm on Powell Street, I have killed a viper member, but now I'm inside an abandoned building, getting chased by a Gardevoir viper agent." he reported as he quickly stormed down to the ground floor door. "Get over here and..." Tobias didn't finish his sentence, because the moment he kicked open the door, he felt the blade of the Gardevoir's machete slide down his right shoulder blade. It wasn't deep enough to cause any real damage, but it caused him to grunt in pain before he spun around and aimed the gun towards the Gardevoir, but he did not fire. Instead, he turned around the other way, towards the door he kicked open, and the Gardevoir teleported right into his view. He predicted what she was going to do perfectly.

The Gardevoir had a look of shock on her face as she was punched to the side of her head whilst three bullets hit her kevlar vest, absorbing the blows but knocking her back. The blow to the head and the force from the bullets was sufficient to temporarily disallow her from teleporting away. She stumbled backwards until she had her back against the wall, but still held on to the machete. The Gardevoir swung the heavy blade towards Tobias, but he jumped back in time, just as he heard the blade whistle through the air. Tobias quickly pulled up his gun, and put a bullet through her hand, causing her to scream as she dropped the machete and felt another bullet going through her left thigh. She quickly dropped to one knee, and then she felt Tobias take hold of the back of her head, before slamming the left side of her face into the wall. The Gardevoir started to curl up into a ball, not knowing what to do against the violent attacks. Tobias fired two more shots into her elbow causing her to scream surprisingly weakly. Tobias had expected her to be more challenging and tougher for a viper, but he wasn't complaining. He crouched right next to her and said, "I'll empty this gun into your arms and legs if you do not tell me how many more vipers there are."

The Gardevoir then reached for something in one of her trouser pockets, which caught the attention of Tobias. He pressed the silencer just behind her chin, and pulled the trigger, immediately killing her. Suddenly, he felt slightly guilty for killing her as he realized maybe she was taking out information about the vipers from her pocket. The feeling faded almost instantly, Tobias looked at what she was reaching for, and saw a high explosive grenade partly pulled out from her pocket. Fortunately, the Gardevoir didn't get as far as pulling the pin. Tobias quickly grabbed the grenade and put it into the pocket of his blazer, he had a feeling he would need it. He also checked the body for any other weapons, but found none.

He quickly got up, and walked through a few more rooms, trying to quickly find his way out. Meanwhile, Kovick, Louis and Reaper were running down a street, drawing the attention of many people walking down the street. The rest of the team had broken up into groups of threes and fours as they thought they'd have a better chance of finding Tobias if they split up. There was more than one abandoned building on the street Tobias had told them about. Kovick didn't like this, all he had was his handgun because none of them wanted to draw attention to themselves by carrying big guns out in the open. Kovick didn't want to go after vipers with nothing but a handgun, but they had to give Tobias some backup. Some time later, they had found an abandoned building which they thought Tobias could be in. The front entrance was padlocked, so they took the alleyway to search for another entrance, which they then quickly found and entered, without knowing what they would find.

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**Author****'s note: Hey! Before I go on to all the usual thanks to people, to those authors out there who want OCs in stories, you may wanna talk to derden95 (.net/u/3409896/)**** He's doing like a big cross-over story that involves other Pokemon stories. He's really skilled so I wanna see how this turns out.**** Oh, and did I mention Richard an Tera are going to be in one of the future chapters? I've seen it and it looks pretty damn awesome. Now, thank you to hironada and BigBossSonic for coming back and editing this, and thank you all for reading this! :3**


	52. Into the snakepit

Louis was the first one to enter the abandoned building with his handgun drawn, as he quickly looked around the dark room. Not much light shined through the dusty windows in the rather large room he entered. Louis looked over to Kovick and Reaper who were tailing him, before looking around the room, which had two doors leading to somewhere. "Tobias!" Louis shouted out before Kovick gave him a shocked look.

"I don't think it's a good idea to alert any vipers to our position." Kovick angrily whispered to Louis.

Louis just looked straight back at him before saying, "I don't know about you, but I don't want to get accidentally shot by Tobias!"

Almost as soon as he finished his sentence, everyone heard a clunking noise of something hitting the floor. The sound came from behind them, near the door they entered from. They all spun around as the door slammed shut, and a grenade quickly began spewing gas.

"Run!" Reaper shouted as they all ran for a door at the end of the room. Suddenly, they heard glass shattering before several loud bands and bright flashes disorientated all of them, blinding them for a brief second. Reaper heard one of the humans besides him grunt in pain and hit the ground, he was about to look around to see what was going on, but then everything just went black.

"Tobias! Where are you?" Owen demanded to know as he walked back over to the car, where the new comers Robert and Lenneth were standing. There was no response from Tobias, so he decided to ask the others through his earpiece. "Richard, has your group found anything?" he asked.

"Just searched a building, I don't think he's here." Richard responded.

"Kovick, Louis, find anything?" Owen asked through his earpiece before waiting a while for a response. "Kovick, Louis, respond!" Owen shouted, yet gaining no response.

Richard then quickly responded. "They were searching buildings down the opposite end of the street, Tera and Kiara said they heard something that sounded like explosions. We should get there quickly!"

Owen quickly got into the car, as did Robert and Lenneth before he said, "Richard, I'm bringing the car down there. I think we're going to need more fire power to kill these vipers."

"I'll meet you down there with the others, over and out." Richard responded before looking back at Tera, Bruce and Kiara. "Let's move!" he said before quickly running out of the building with the others.

Within a minute, the car pulled up at the abandoned building Tera was standing beside. The car came to a complete stop and he hastily got out. Robert was already armed with his sniper rifle and revolver. Owen tossed Richard his MP5, and Bruce cocked his combat shotgun. Bruce looked over to Lenneth as he said, "Need a gun?"

"N-no thanks." Lenneth stuttered. Bruce was about to say something, but then he looked over to Richard who now gave him and the others.

"Bruce, Owen, I'm going in with you two. Tera and Kiara, can you two stay in the ally and try give us a warning if anything is wrong?" Richard asked them.

Tera nodded and smiled. "We can, how would we warn you though?" she responded.

"Honk the horn in the car. Now Robert and Lenneth, could you try get into that abandoned building across the street and keep an eye out for any unpleasant surprises?" Richard asked.

"Sure." Robert said with a smile.

"Oh, and don't let anyone see you carrying that rifle, we don't want to attract any unwanted attention." Richard told him.

"Got it." Robert replied as he already begun making his way towards the other abandoned building and looked to his left and right, making sure there was no one on the street before running up to the building with Lenneth.

Meanwhile, Richard, Owen and Bruce gathered around the only unblocked entrance to the building. Tera and Kiara were both looking down the alley when they heard a deafening 'bang', the sound of someone kicking down the door. They watched as Bruce rushed in first, then Richard and lastly, Owen. They stood in a room, with their guns drawn as they looked around. Owen walked over to one of two doors, before stopping and looking down to the floor. "There's a spot of blood on the floor, looks fresh." Owen quietly said to the others.

Richard thought for two seconds before saying, "Stay very alert, but make sure you don't pull your triggers on anything friendly."

The others nodded once before looking to the doors. They started with the one Owen was closest to. They found a small pool of blood on the floor with 9mm casings in it. Next to that pool of blood was a smashed earpiece. It was very clear that one of them must have been badly injured, or worse. They left that room and started searching the other rooms. Opposite to the door leading into the stairwell was the body of a dead Gardevoir, which only made them more wary. They spent a few seconds checking the body before leaving and heading up the stairwell. They searched every room on every floor, the only other thing they found was a dead man tied up to a chair with two holes in his head, a cut open throat and a badly mangled knee. There was nothing left they could do there, so they headed back out and ordered Robert and Lenneth to meet them by the car.

Richard now walked out into the ally and saw Tera standing there. "Tera, we should get in the car now." he told her.

"What about the others? Did you find anything?" Tera asked, looking slightly worried for them.

"No, nothing... Just a smashed earpiece, and two bodies. The bodies weren't them." Richard told her.

"So... They just took them? How are we going to get them back?" Tera inquired.

Richard turned to Owen and said, "Tell your contact to give us all the info she has that could possibly help us."

"What if she has no info for us?" Owen replied.

"Then we'll just have to get Silas' attention and blow up one of his damn outposts or bases!" Richard quickly responded, sounding a little agitated.

Bruce walked away, towards the car as he began to think that blowing up something wasn't a bad idea at this point. He was tired of waiting for them to come to them, when they could bring the fight to them. Owen let out a brief sigh before saying, "I'll see what I can do."

Owen then walked away with Bruce, but Richard and Tera didn't follow them. Tera just looked at Richard, she could tell something wasn't right with him. "What's wrong?" she asked him.

"It's nothing Tera... I'll tell you later. Right now the best thing we could do is get into a more populated area of this city, they won't want to attack in places with more people than they can deal with." Richard said before walking off with Tera towards the car.

They climbed in as they heard Owen still trying to get through to Kovick, Louis Tobias or Reaper. After a few tries as he drove deeper onto the city, he gave up and started talking to Rhea. The mood in the car was pretty bleak, no one wanted to talk. Richard had a lot on his mind now, especially seeing as he was supposed to be the leader. He was fine with letting the team split up, but now he was down by four men. He could feel the responsibility of his role in the team resting heavily on his shoulders. He didn't like it at all, he never wanted to be a leader. He remembered leading a team a while back, he didn't like it then and he didn't like it now. He wished someone like Owen would just take over his role so he didn't have to feel responsible for whatever happened to the others on this mission.

Owen drove around in circles around the most populated areas of the city for about 15 minutes before he finally finished talking to Rhea. Richard wanted to know what she had told him. "Did she have any information on our missing people?" Richard asked him.

"No, nothing. She said she doesn't know how they were taken or where. We think a man called Asher was behind the attack so she's going to try and track him down." Owen told him.

"What do we know about Asher and what are we doing now?" Richard questioned him.

"Asher is almost like Silas' right hand man, he takes orders directly from him and no one else. There wasn't much blood in the rooms that didn't have bodies in them, so I think they wanted Tobias, Kovick, Louis and Reaper all alive. It isn't that much of a surprise to me." Owen replied as he now stopped outside of a hotel. "For now, there's nothing we can do."

"We should hit them back, if we just wait around in hotel rooms it may just give them more time to think about how to deal with us." Richard stated as he got a little angry knowing that there wasn't much they could do to help their missing teammates.

Tera looked confused as she tried to look over to Owen and said, "Why are they being taken alive?"

Owen switched the engine off to the car before explaining. "Silas likes to have agents killed on camera, he usually does it himself. Tobias is one of the best, they'll definitely want his death recorded." he told her.

Tera grew worried as she began to think about Reaper and Kovick, they both seemed like nice people to her. "What about the others?" she asked.

"I'm not sure." Owen lied, he was sure that when the vipers figure out Louis, Kovick and Reaper aren't agents, they'll simply gun them down. Owen noticed that Lenneth looked concerned too, he wondered if she had picked up on his thoughts. He stepped out of the car and closed the door behind himself while the others climbed out. "Get some rest now, you'll all need it later." he said as he headed towards the hotel.

A few minutes later, Richard found himself laying on his bed for the night with Tera right next to him. Tera knew there was something on his mind. "Richard?" she said as she looked at him.

"Yeah?" Richard replied, looking back into her eyes.

"Will you tell me what's wrong now?" she replied, giving him a cute and concerned look.

"It's nothing... I just don't think being a leader is my thing." Richard told her.

"Why not? You're a strong man." Tera replied with a smile as she cuddled up to him.

Richard smiled as he stroked the blue fur on her arms. "A lot of people on our team are strong, I know for a fact you certainly are." he said to her.

"I'm not a leader." Tera replied as her paws rubbed his still clothed body.

"Neither am I. I don't like feeling responsible for people I haven't even gotten the time to know... We've already lost four people, our chances aren't looking so good." Richard bluntly said as his smile faded.

"I know we'll be safe, because you're here. We just need to stay together." Tera responded with a bright smile on her face.

Richard soon found himself smiling again before saying, "It wasn't so long ago that I was the one giving you emotional support."

"You always make me feel better about things, like the time with my nightmares." Tera said the last part a little quieter as she remembered the first time she shared her bed with Richard.

Richard kissed the top of her head before saying, "I'd do anything to make you feel good."

Tera suddenly felt warmer as he said that, and dirty thoughts of them together began to flood her mind. "I'd do the same for you." she told him as she felt her cheeks heating up.

Richard glanced down from her eyes to her lips. He couldn't resist, and they soon found themselves locked in a deep and passionate kiss, rubbing and grinding against each other as their tongues quickly met. Minutes passed by as if they were seconds to them before they pulled out of their kiss and held each other tightly.

Tera closed her eyes before saying a few words. "I won't let anyone take you away from me." she said to him as her hold on him became tighter.

Richard closed his eyes as his hands stroked the soft fur on her back. "No one will be able to take me away from you." he confidently said to her. Richard wanted to make love to her right now, but he restrained himself. He didn't want to be caught with his pants down when the vipers attack, but he guessed there was little harm in just cuddling and kissing. As Tera lay there, cuddled up to Richard, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the people that got taken away. Reaper seemed like a nice man, he seemed wise and calm. Kovick just seemed to want to help people, he didn't deserve to get taken away. Louis had a bad attitude towards her kind of relationship with Richard, but she didn't want to see him dead. Tobias, she didn't really know about, but she felt sorry for him. She saw his aura, and she saw that Tobias was not really a bad person. He had the potential to turn his life around with the help of another, but she guessed that he may never let anyone close to him. She hoped they were fine, and that they'd find them soon.

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, from now on, there's gonna be a lot more action! Maybe I'll get a chance to squeeze in a few fluffy scenes, we'll see! Oh, big thank you to my awesome readers and hironada and BigBossSonic for editing for me once again! :D**


	53. Captivity

Kovick awoke up, but he could see nothing. He had something covering his eyes, probably some kind of rag but he couldn't tell. His hands were tied behind his back and he was on both of his knees. His shoulders were aching and he felt like he had a bad headache. He could hear some creaking around the room, and he was sure he could feel the place moving from side to side. "Hello?" Kovick quietly said, hoping to get an answer.

Soon, the sound of Louis' voice echoed in the room. "Kovick? You're there?" he replied.

"Yeah, it's me... I can't move or see anything. Is anyone else here?" Kovick asked him.

"I don't know. I'm tied up and I think the cut on my arm has started bleeding again, I think they took my bandages off." Louis quickly responded.

"Where are we?" Kovick asked him.

"I don't know, maybe on a boat or something like that." Louis replied before they heard the sound of a rusty door creaking open, followed by the sound of footsteps on wood. It was obvious by the weight of the footsteps that this person was wearing some kind of military boots, so it was likely a human entering the room.

Both Louis and Kovick stayed quiet for a while, then the footsteps got moved away from Louis and closer to Kovick. He began wondering what this person would do, and who he was. The first thing that came to his mind was torture. The footsteps got closer and closer to Kovick, stopping right in front of him. Kovick was scared, and before he knew it, the person had their hands around his throat. Kovick's head hit the wall as he gasped for air before starting to choke. The person's grip on his neck was so tight that he felt like as though his neck was going to snap, or his throat was going to be crushed. There was nothing he could do to fight back, his hands were tightly bound. Louis could hear the wheezing and gasping sounds coming from Kovick. The sound filled him with fear as Kovick's gasping began to grow weaker, and he began to think that they would die here. Kovick felt his whole body growing weaker, soon after, he couldn't feel anything at all.

After what felt like a second later to him, Kovick awoke, taking a deep breath after feeling himself doused with freezing water. He realized the blindfold had been taken off. He was on his knees and had his hands tied behind him to some kind of wooden pole, in a sort of hut. Kovick didn't get the luxury of looking around so soon, as he suddenly got punched in the right eye. He let out a quick sharp grunt of pain before look down to the ground, using the only eye he was now able to open. The punch caught him completely off guard, the pain was intense, but he knew that these people that had him now were going to do a lot worse than just punch him. These men now had him, his hope to see the Ninetales that he had fallen for again was now quickly fading. He now wished he had told Owen his plan, then at least he would die knowing that there was a chance that Aneko would know how he felt about her. Kovick could hear the clank of a metal bucket dropping to the ground, closely followed by heavy footsteps on the wooden floorboards, walking away from him as a couple of sinister chuckles died down. He guessed there were at least three people in the room.

He slowly looked up, and saw a wooden table about fifteen feet away from him. There were four wooden chairs at the table, with two people sitting at both ends. The other man that had punched Kovick grabbed a beer off the table and sat at one of the other remaining chairs. Kovick began to look around the room a little more, seeing three windows. One of them next to the door to Kovick's right about 20 feet away, another one at the opposite end of the room, and one near the table the slavers were sitting at. Kovick then tried to look behind him, and was surprised by what he saw. Louis was tied to a chair, and bleeding from a cut on his hairline that looked fairly fresh. There were bruises all over his face. Next to Louis was Reaper, who was tied up to a wooden beam just like Kovick was. Reaper was awake, with a rag tied behind his head and over his eyes so he couldn't see. Kovick now looked over to the slavers in the room. The biggest out of the three of them at around about six feet and five inches, he was white, bald yet had a scruffy short brownish beard and he looked like he had his nose broken a few times judging by the way it was angled slightly to one side. The biggest one was also the one that had punched him. The others had darker skin, one was only about five foot eight inches, had short black hair but looked to be in his thirties. The other was about six foot, and looked younger than the other two. Kovick guessed he was in his early twenties. They all wore green military jackets that had the emblem of Silas' forces on the shoulders, jungle camouflage trousers, and brown boots. There were three guns by the chairs of the slavers, all of them AK-47s.

A few minutes passed, in which Kovick heard the men talking about beating both him and the others a little more. He heard one of them talking about cutting off Reaper's wings, which they seriously considered. They wanted to make sure Reaper couldn't use them, then after that, they discussed filing down his scythes. Then they started talking about cutting off Kovick's and Louis' fingers off so they couldn't hold any weapons or fire any guns. Kovick couldn't tell if it was a scare tactic, or if they were really considering these things. While they were talking, Kovick realizes something, they hadn't mentioned Tobias, and he wasn't in this room with them. It was at this point that Kovick began wondering if Tobias had led them into a trap intentionally, or if he was dead. He thought for a while, and snapped out of his thoughts when the shortest of the three got up out of his chair, whilst holding an intimidating 8 inch knife in his hand. He was walking straight towards Kovick, just as Louis awoke, and a knock at the wooden door was heard. The short man turned his attention to the door and quickly walked over to it as the big man sitting by the table said, "That must have been a long shit he was taking, 'bout time he got his crusty ass back here."

The short man quickly opened the door, and was startled by who was standing in front of him. Kovick couldn't get a good view of the man standing at the door as it was close to pitch black outside, and the military style cap the man wore also obscured the view of his face. The man also wore the same outfit as the other men, but there was something familiar about him. Kovick didn't get long to look at the man standing still, because with in a split second, the man standing at the door took a step forward and slid a small blade under the short man's ribs and into his heart. The short man opened his mouth wide as he tried to scream, but all that came out was a slight gurgling noise. The two other men quickly got out of their chairs, looking panicked as they reached for their guns, but the mysterious stranger that was standing at the door was faster, he pulled out the handgun that was holstered on the slaver's thigh, and fired off a few rounds as the short man dropped to the ground. The shots fired off were inaccurate, but one of the bullets lodged itself in the largest man's skull, while the other man brought up his AK, a bullet hit him in the chest and throat as he pulled the trigger. The stranger quickly slammed his back up against the wall as he narrowly avoided the bullets that sprayed out of his victim's gun, until it was completely empty. All the bullets had hit nothing but the floors, walls and ceiling, but a lot of them landed closely to Kovick, Reaper, and Louis.

The man that had downed the three slavers looked around briefly, seeing the man hit in the throat in the chest still bleeding and alive, barely. The man wasted no more time, he went straight for the big 8 inch knife on the ground, and sprinted over to Kovick with a limp, before cutting Kovick out of his binds. It was at this point that Kovick saw the man was actually Tobias, although he had a cut on his lip and a two inch cut on his forehead. His face looked wet with sweat too, and his eyes looked strange. His pupils were like pin pricks, which made Kovick wonder if Tobias had taken anything. Within seconds, Tobias freed Kovick from his binds and said, "Grab an AK."

Kovick did as he asked and grabbed some magazines and held three AK47s in his arms, by the time he turned around to look back, Louis and Reaper were already up and ready to go. Kovick threw the already fully loaded AKs to Tobias and Louis before releasing the empty mag from his gun, and replacing it with a full magazine.

Tobias looked back to the others once before looking back to the open door and saying, "Run."

As soon as Tobias said that, he sprinted outside, with the others quickly following him behind. They ran quickly into the dense forest, as they heard the sound of shouting and the sound of a flare launching up into the air. That sound and the bright red light that illuminated the tropical trees, was closely followed by the sound of gunfire. The bullets shredded through the trees, but they didn't have enough power to punch through all of the ones the four escaped prisoners now ran through. Louis turned around and fired two quick three round bursts back in the direction they came from, hoping it would at least make people who wanted to chase them think twice, but all it seemed to do was piss them off even more. Louis could see the trees being cut up with gunfire from the opposite side of the forest, he ducked down a little as he ran back towards Kovick, Tobias and Reaper, hoping he could catch up with them before he gets shot. After a few seconds of running and not seeing where the others went, Louis began to panic. He quickly became confused, until he heard Reaper's voice coming from straight ahead, beyond the tropical trees and vines. "Louis! Get your ass over here!"

Louis quickly ran in the direction he heard Reaper shouting from, quickly catching up with the others as they kept running. The shooting and shouting stopped a few seconds later, but they kept running. They had sprinted a full three minutes, trying to cope with the uneven terrain of the land as well as not being able to see much because of the darkness and the trees that surrounded them. Louis began to slow down, at which point, Tobias shouted, "I didn't come back for you to let yourselves get shot now. The vipers won't stop following, keep moving!"

Louis saw no other option than to do what he said, and keep moving. Half an hour later, they were still moving, slowly. Tobias was sweating a lot, and Kovick noticed this. "Tobias." Kovick said to him.

"What?" Tobias responded.

"You've been limping all this time, your pupils were dilated before, and your aim was way off back when you saved us. What's wrong with you? Did you take something? Morphine perhaps?" Kovick questioned him.

"No. It was opium actually." Tobias said as he took off the cap he had been wearing and threw it down to the ground.

"Opium?" Kovick repeated, looking confused as to why Tobias would take something like that.

Tobias knew why Kovick said that in a questioning tone, so he decided to give them all some answers. "I escaped the boat we were on after slipping out, but I was wounded and beaten. The salt water in my wound wasn't a nice feeling, every part of my body was aching. I found some opium in a little hut, along with a handgun and a few other things. I took the opium to dull the pain I was feeling. We should talk about this another time." he stated as he leaned against a tree, feeling like he was going to be sick or faint, or both.

"Where were you wounded?" Kovick asked him as he walked over to Tobias.

"The thigh. I cleaned up the entry and exit wounds. Bandaged it tight too." Tobias replied as he took in some deep breaths.

"Tobias, I think you should take a rest." Kovick told him.

"If I don't keep moving, we'll all die. I'm fine to go, now let's keep moving." Tobias said as he started walking on again.

Kovick felt like Tobias wasn't telling him something, there was something strange about him, almost like something had changed. He guessed it was a possible side effect of the opium, but somehow, he doubted that was it.

* * *

**Author's note: I was hoping to make this chapter a little longer, but oh well. Chapter 54 is being edited as I type this, so hopefully it shouldn't take so long for that chapter to be uploaded. Thinking the usual people here, BigBossSonic, hironada and all you awesome readers!**


	54. Morning loving

"Rhea, we need some good news, or at least some leads on where our people are." Owen said as he sat on a bed in some cheap hotel.

"I can give you both of those." Rhea responded through the earpiece.

"Really? That's a surprise. Give me the info on our missing team members first." Owen said to her.

"We captured a viper that was involved in capturing Tobias, Louis, Reaper and Kovick. The things he told us matched what we've dug up so far, but we're not sure if he's telling the truth." Rhea stated.

"No surprise there, he is a viper after all." Owen replied.

"He said they were taken by Asher via boat, he claimed that he didn't know where the boat went to. But, we squeezed out a little more information from him, and we now believe that they could be on one of three islands. There's quite a big problem, they're all under Silas' control. Sending a team to rescue them could give Silas enough reason to order an attack on any regions that give you any support. But onto better news, we've recently joined with Unova's special-forces. Unova are now openly supporting the fight against Silas. We now have five powerful regions on our side, we're prepared for anything Silas will throw at us, talk of war is already everywhere." Rhea told him.

"I'm not actually sure if I'm happy about that or not. I hoped that by creating and building this team, we could take the fight to Silas without causing a massive war, but we do need the extra support." Owen said to her.

"Taking down Silas isn't an easy thing to do. I was always expecting war to come sooner or later. I have to go now, but I suggest you get a boat to Hoenn as soon as you can." Rhea said, before the familiar crackle of static signaling the end of their conversation was heard.

Owen let out a sigh, he hated when Rhea told him to do stuff when he wasn't sure why he was doing it. It was a bad habit of her's.

Meanwhile, Bruce slowly opened his eyes. He thought about stretching his arms a little as he lay in bed, but then he saw Kiara by his side, with her back turned to him, he thought of something else. He got a mean idea, he thought about clapping his hands loudly over her head as she slept to shock her awake. He was about to do that, but instead, he just ended up watching her sleep. He watched her slowly breathing in and out as he lightly stroked down the side of her body, all the way down to her back legs. Bruce didn't want to admit it, but when he was around Kiara with no one else around, he was quite a sensitive person. He cared a lot about Kiara, he cared about her a lot more than he ever thought he'd end up caring for someone. It was kind of funny for him, he remembered his sister saying that he'd find someone special. Bruce never believed that and just said, 'I already have someone very close to me. That's myself, although I am having an affair with vodka right now.' Bruce thought it was funny, unfortunately his sister didn't find it so funny. Now that his mind was on his sister, he wondered what she would say to Kiara if they were both in the same room. He guessed they'd get along pretty well. He knew that his sister wanted him to find someone.

Now he began thinking about Kiara again, he hasn't known her for very long, yet he's gone from hating her, to wanting her dead, to being pissed off about her whilst slightly attracted to her, to all over her. He couldn't believe it, but he was in love with a Glaceon that at one point made him want to kill her. Everything that he should have hated about her, he ended up loving. Even now, he struggled to stop himself from kissing her, but he soon lost that struggle and gave in to his desires. "Kiara." he whispered into her ear.

Kiara quickly woke up to the sound of his voice as she turned her head back slightly to try and look over at Bruce as she said, "Yeah?"

Nearly as soon as those words left her lips, one of Bruce's hands began stroking her stomach, rubbing her nipples as he quickly planted a long and wet kiss onto her lips before whispering, "I fucking love you."

Kiara smiled and softly moaned before saying, "Looks like you got over your cold."

"My nose is a little blocked up but, it was so fucking worth it." Bruce told her, whilst still stroking up and down her stomach.

Kiara closed her eyes again as she enjoyed the feeling of Bruce's hands on her body. "Mhmm, I hope no one comes knocking at the door again." Kiara said to him.

"If they do, I'll just say we're getting ready." Bruce replied with a smirk.

Kiara's mind flooded with dirty ideas, she knew Bruce was naked underneath the sheets, and she knew Bruce wanted her. "What do you want to do now that you're better?" she asked with a grin on her face, already knowing the answer to that.

Bruce hugged her as he felt one of Kiara's back legs rub against his manhood. "I want to make you melt down here." he said to her as he stroked down to her rear.

Kiara quickly shifted her tail out of the way, before she felt Bruce slowly rubbing her wet slit. As soon as she felt his warm fingers on her vagina, she felt her lust for him quickly intensifying. Suddenly, she opened her mouth to let out a half suppressed howl of pleasure as she felt Bruce ram two fingers deep into her tight little snatch. She was trying her best to not make too much noise, but then Bruce quickly pulled out his fingers which were now covered in her wetness, and rammed them back inside her. She arched her back, moaning and writhing on the bed as Bruce pushed his fingers deep inside her, twisting them around inside her as he rubbed her hard little clit with his thumb. Her pussy tightened around his fingers, she couldn't take much more of this, he was going way too fast before, and now he had her right on the edge of her orgasm. "Bruce! I-I'm..." Kiara tried to finish her sentence, but she was quickly silenced by Bruce when he kissed her, muffling her cries caused by the orgasms. Her body started to twitch, and her pussy tighten tightened around Bruce's fingers

As Kiara moaned into Bruce's mouth, there was a knock at the door which was quickly followed by Owen's voice. "We're going now, get ready and meet us outside." he said before walking off. Bruce and Kiara just blocked his words out of their minds as their tongues slipped into each other's mouths, until Kiara had to withdraw from the kiss. Her moans were like screams, but Bruce just kept finger fucking her, ramming them in and out of her hot and wet twat. Bruce now held her down with one hand to stop her from thrashing around so much whilst still pleasuring her with his other hand. Kiara now opened her mouth to let out another scream caused by the unbelievable pleasure she now felt. She felt like she was having one big orgasm that was dragging on for much longer than it should, at this rate, she felt like she'd lose her voice if she screamed any louder. Eventually, Bruce decided to pull his fingers out of her, and let the panting Glaceon recover from her strong climax.

Bruce looked down to her rear to see the covers of the bed near there were now soaked in Kiara's fluids. His hand was covered in it too, but not for long. Bruce licked it all off his hand, he loved how she tasted. 'Maybe I'll try licking her out later.' Bruce thought to himself as he smirked.

Kiara was still panting and recovering, but she had a small smile on her face at the same time. "Bruce..." Kiara huffed out.

"Yeah?" Bruce responded as he sat up.

"T-think I'll have time to repay you?" Kiara asked as she now wore a devious little smirk on her face.

Bruce just chuckled before getting out of bed and finding his clothes. "You can repay me later." he begun as he picked up his clothes off the floor. "Think you can make me cum harder than I made you cum?" Bruce asked her in an almost challenging way.

Kiara could tell that Bruce was pleased with his own performance, but she knew that she could make him feel even better than he made her feel. "You won't be able to handle what I can do." Kiara responded as she stood up, feeling very light headed but resisting the urge to just fall back down onto the comfy bed.

Bruce gathered up his clothes and put them on the bed as he sat down and give Kiara a small peck on her lips. "I can handle anything you throw at me, ice queen." he said to her before getting dressed.

Meanwhile, Richard and Tera were both in the car, talking to each other. "What do you think of Robert and Lenneth?" Richard asked Tera.

"They seem like normal people, but I think they're interesting." Tera said as she smiled.

"Interesting? How so?" Richard asked her.

"They're both from Kanto, but I've seen that they don't act strange when we both kiss. They seem nice, nicer than those others from there." Tera told him.

"Bruce is from Kanto, and he's with Kiara now. Not all people from Kanto are dicks." Richard replied.

"But Bruce was born in Johto, so I'm not sure if you can count him." Tera said to him.

"Yeah, guess I can't. There's a lot of things wrong with Kanto, a lot of crime there." Richard responded.

"Did you do things there when you were a mercenary?" Tera asked him, partly already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, I spent a lot of time there. They were mostly small jobs though, only really needed two or three people on most days. There's a lot of tension between Pokemon and humans down there. I think I remember someone saying more humans die there because of Pokemon then anywhere else, it also works the other way as well. It's not a place I'd like to be, they've been going at Silas for about ten years now. Not many Pokémon enlist into Kanto's army, so they're weaker than most." Richard told her before letting out a small sigh. "Sometimes I think they could have ended Silas a long time ago, if they had good relations with the other regions as well Pokemon in their army."

"Now it's up to us to stop him." Tera said to him, still keeping a brave smile on her face.

"Yeah, but we can't do this alone. Silas has built up an army and practically has his own little empire. We need armies to blow him away, we can't take him on now, we're strong but we're no super soldiers. Besides, we're down four people." Richard said as he looked down to the floor.

"We'll find them." Tera said confidently.

"You're probably right, with Owen's resources, we could track pretty much anyone down. Even if those vipers try hard to stop that from happening, we'll find a way." Richard replied as he looked to back up at her and smiled back.

Tera now rested her head on his shoulder before saying, "What would you do if you found Silas again?"

"Kill him, and hope I can survive the encounter. What about you?" Richard asked.

Tera thought about it for a while before saying, "I don't know... I would kill him, but I don't know if I'd want to do it quickly or slowly."

"If I was you, I'd want to do it slowly." Richard said to her.

"But would that make me bad?" Tera asked him.

"You're not bad, you'd just be getting even... You couldn't be bad even if you wanted to be, you're a nice, kind and trusting person." Richard told her as he relaxed back in his seat, whilst stroking her furry thigh a little.

"Sweet talker." Tera said before giggling a little and closing her eyes.

Richard closed his eyes too as they scooted a little closer to each other. "Can't blame me if I want to say just how perfect you are." he whispered to her.

"I'm not perfect." Tera quietly replied, feeling herself blush a little.

"You are to me." Richard told her before kissing her cheek.

Tera could hear the others approaching the car. She was a little disappointed that they were coming so soon. She wanted a little more time alone with Richard, she enjoyed talking with him and resting on him. But she did agree to come along on this mission, she had to just deal with the others being around them as she whispered a few things to Richard and gave him a few pecks on his cheeks and lips. Bruce and Kiara climbed into the back of the car, joining Richard and Tera. Things seemed much emptier now it was just the four of them sat in the back, again. Lenneth and Robert set up front with Owen who now drove the car away from the hotel.

Richard was about to ask where they were heading now, but then he heard a familiar voice through his earpiece. "Hey, can you hear me?" a male voice said to him.

* * *

**Author's notes: Welp, just so you guys know I'm gonna be switching back and forth bewtween Richard's group and Tobais' group a lot. Although next chapter will be focused on Richard's group again, developing plot! :D Oh, and thank you to BigBossSonic and hironada again for editing!**


	55. A familiar voice

"Richard, it's me, Mac. I don't think the others can hear me... And I don't really know if this is you or not. I accidentally got through to Ethan through this before... Are you there?" Mac asked through the earpiece.

Richard looked around at everyone, but they didn't look suspicious. He guessed Mac really was only talking to him. He wanted to talk to Mac, but he guessed if he was only talking to him and not the others, he guessed there was someone in the team that was untrustworthy. A few seconds later, Mac spoke to him again.

"If you're listening, just press that little button that allows you to speak to the others with earpieces on... Go on, don't be shy." Mac said to him.

Richard did what Mac asked and pressed the little button. "I'm here." he said. Tera and the others looked at Richard with a confused look on their faces.

"Ah, there you are. Nice to hear from you again Richard. I'm still getting used to all this, these agents set me up with some real nice techy stuff. I'll be helping your team with info and all that good stuff." Mac told him.

"Who are you talking to?" Tera asked Richard.

"It's Mac, he says he's helping us out now." Richard told her before listening to Mac again.

"Is that Tera I can hear? How are you both anyway?" Mac asked Richard.

"We've been better, but I'm glad you're with us now." Richard replied.

"How are those vests I made for you and Tera? Are they still in one piece?" Mac inquired.

"They're still wearable, I should remember to wear it more often. Anyway, any news on Ethan and Lucy?" Richard asked.

"Last time I saw them, they were in their car making out. I just walked by and back to my workshop though. They're doing well." Mac told him.

Richard smiled before saying, "I'm glad to hear that."

"So, now I just need to check who's who, talk to you later Richard." Mac said before his voice left Richard's earpiece to talk to anyone else who had an earpiece.

"What did Mac say about Ethan and Lucy?" Tera asked Richard with a curious look on her face.

"He said they're doing well. I bet they're happy to have the house all to themselves." Richard said as he grinned.

"I'm sure they are." Tera said was she cuddled up to Richard. They shared a few long and comfortable hugs before slowly falling asleep. The last thing they heard before doing so was Bruce, asking Mac why he wanted his measurements.

A few hours later, they stopped at a gas station to pick up a few things and grab some gas. Bruce and Robert were now picking up a few snacks from the shelves inside the gas station. Bruce just had to ask Robert a question while they were away from the others. "So... That Gardevoir... You're banging her right?" Bruce asked with a smirk.

"What! No, she's just a friend." Robert quickly replied as he looked straight back at Bruce.

"You're not in Kanto anymore." Bruce reminded him as he grinned.

"We're just friends, that's all." Robert responded as he began walking to the counter.

Bruce quickly followed him. "You're a bad bullshitter, you know that? I bet you've at least thought about banging ghost over there." he said as he pointed over to the Gardevoir that now walked into the gas station.

"I haven't, we're just friends." Robert repeated as he payed for his stuff and left whilst Bruce payed for his own stuff.

'He wants to bang her.' Bruce thought to himself with a smirk as he paid for the few snacks and drinks he had gathered. As Bruce handed the man behind the counter some money, he noticed a man walk into the gas station. The man stood beside Bruce as he put down a black bin bag onto the counter and muttered a few words.

"Money, now." the man said as he now pointed a handgun straight at the man behind the counter.

Bruce quickly turned around to face the man, he had very short brown hair and looked to be in his very early twenties. He was wearing a black jacket, black jeans and had a bruised right eye. With all the armed people just outside, he knew that this guy picked a real bad moment to rob this place. The man went to turn and point the glock at Bruce, but he quickly grabbed the man's wrist as he delivered a quick punch to the mouth. The gun went off, firing a round somewhere. Bruce wasn't paying attention to where the bullet went, he grabbed the man's wrist with both hands, quickly ducked underneath his arm and twisted it behind the man's back.

The man screamed a little as he felt his wrist being dislocated. He dropped the gun, he just wanted the pain to end, but it didn't. Bruce kicked the back of his left leg as he forced the man down to the ground, face first. Bruce heard a loud smack, the sound of the man's face slamming into the hard ground. "Get that fucking gun away from him!" Bruce shouted to the man behind the counter as he kept a knee on the man's back.

The man wasn't much of a threat now, but that didn't stop Bruce from giving him a sharp punch to the back of the head. "Shouldn't have fucked with me." Bruce angrily whispered to the man below him as Owen, Kiara and Robert now burst through the door.

Owen looked down to the man that was squirming below Bruce as the man that was behind the counter now kicked away the gun. "Bruce, what happened?" Owen questioned him as he approached them both with his handgun drawn.

"The little cunt pulled out a gun and tried to rob this place, made the mistake of trying to point the fucking gun at me." Bruce told them as he looked down to the man below him who now bled a little from his mouth. 'Looks like I loosened up his teeth.' he thought to himself.

Owen now looked over to the man that was standing behind the counter. "Were you hurt?" he asked as he now holstered his handgun.

"N-no, I don't think so." the man shakily replied.

Owen could tell just from his tone of voice that the man was shaken up. "Have you called the police yet?" he asked the man.

"Err, not yet." the man responded.

"Then I suggest you call them now. Do you think you can handle things from here?" Owen asked.

"Err, yeah, I think so." the man replied as he looked down to the pained man on the ground.

"Let's go Bruce." Owen said as he quickly walked back out with the others.

Bruce quickly got up, he felt like kicking the man in the ribs, but he restrained himself and picked up his snacks and drinks before walking out of the gas station. As soon as Bruce got back in the car, he heard Kiara's voice.

"Were you hurt?" Kiara asked him with a concerned look on her face.

"By that little shit? Nah, I'm fine. Why? Did you get all worried for me?" Bruce asked with a smirk.

"I just don't want anything important shot off you." Kiara replied as she smirked back.

"If he shot anything important off me, he wouldn't be living." Bruce told her before closing his eyes. "Wake me up when we're at the docks." he added.

A few hours later, they were on a big cruise ship. Richard immediately noticed that it was different from the one they had previously been on, but it seemed nice. The ship they were on seemed less fancy, but in a way, Richard preferred it. The people he had seen so far didn't seem snobby or look down on them, they just seemed like normal people. Richard sat down on the bed in his room for the night. He had his bag next to him on his left, and both his and Tera's bullet proof vests to his right. The only sound in the room was the sound of a shower. The room that they were in was nothing special, it had light brown carpets, white walls and a white double bed. There were also two bedside tables and a TV mounted to the wall, but apart from the door leading outside to the hallway and the door leading into the bathroom, there wasn't much else.

Richard couldn't hear the sound of the shower anymore, he guessed Tera had finished washing her fur. He took his bag and their vests off the bed and put them on the floor as he began wondering if he should join the rest of the team at the bar, or spend all of today with Tera. A couple of seconds later, Tera opened the bathroom door and walked into the room. Richard could tell that her fur was still a little damp. "Want to go down to the bar or spend a little more time in here?" Richard asked as he smiled.

"I'll let my fur dry first." Tera replied as she walked over to Richard and sat down on the bed with him.

Richard looked into her eyes, he couldn't stop staring into them. "You know, you've got the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen." he told her before giving her a short sweet kiss on her lips.

Tera smiled widely as she pushed Richard back onto the bed and climbed on top of him. "Everything about you is beautiful." she quietly told him before returning the kiss.

The kiss quickly ended, but they both planned on kissing each other much more later in the night. Richard held her closely to himself as he stroked the fur on her back. "I wish we were both immortal, because I want to be with you for eternity." he said to her.

Tera nuzzled his neck softly as she lay on top of him. "I know you do." she whispered to him as she closed her eyes. Richard closed his eyes too and just lay there, holding her in his arms. All Richard wanted to do was to stroke and hug Tera until she fell asleep. They both knew they could use this time to make love, but they knew there would be plenty of time for that later. Now they just wanted to rest in their warm embrace.

Meanwhile, Bruce, Kiara, Owen, Robert and Lenneth were all sitting down at the bar. Bruce was having a beer, which he shared with Kiara who was sitting next to him. Owen was sitting between Kiara and Robert, sipping his beer. Robert was doing the same, occasionally talking to Lenneth who was sat down next to him. Owen guessed now was a good time to find out a little about his newest teammates. "Why did you two join us on this mission?" he asked the both of them.

Robert was the one to answer him first. "We wanted to help, so we joined up and got ready to kick Silas' ass." he said as he smiled.

"W-why do you a-ask?" Lenneth asked him.

Owen thought that Robert and Lenneth seemed to be really friendly people. Robert seemed more outgoing than Lenneth, she seemed really shy. She had a stutter, he wasn't sure if it was because she was nervous to be talking to him, or if this was just the way she spoke. "I was just curious. How are both settling in with the rest of the team?" Owen inquired.

"I'm doing fine, I just hope we can save those four that got taken." Robert replied.

"M-me too." Lenneth added, not sounding very sure.

"We'll do everything we can to save them and any others we come across." Owen assured them as he took another sip from his glass.

Robert looked back at him, deciding to ask him a few questions of his own. "How long have you been an agent for?" he asked him.

"Too long." Owen replied with a slight smile on his face. "It feels like it's been ages since I've had a good rest. Ever since I became an agent, it seems like I've been dodging death at every corner." Owen said as he looked down to his still bandaged up left hand. He knew that if he ever saw Chase again, he'd be coming back to him with a new scar or two.

"W-what h-happened to your hand?" Lenneth asked him.

"I got stabbed, a viper did it when I was trying to take him down without having to kill him. Kovick took a look at it, he said he didn't think there would be much permanent damage. I've been through worse." Owen told her.

"A-are Richard and T-Tera going to c-come?" Lenneth asked Owen.

"I'm sure they will." Owen said as he thought, 'In more ways than one, I'm sure.' As he thought this, he noticed a slight blush coming to Lenneth's cheeks. He guessed that either she's a mind reader or she had a dirty thought. "They just like to spend a lot of time alone." Owen told the both of them.

"T-they seem v-very close." Lenneth stuttered.

"If they were any closer, they'd be spliced into one person. When I recruited Richard into the team, Tera and Kiara came with him. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea recruiting a couple to fight against Silas, but they seem positive most of the time, and they haven't gotten themselves shot or stabbed during the course of the mission so far. I'm glad to have them with us." Owen stated.

Bruce then shouted over to Owen, despite only being one stool away from him. "What about us!" Bruce asked as he pointed to both himself and Kiara.

"Glad to have you both on the team too." Owen answered him before looking back to Robert and Lenneth, and talking with them through the rest of the night. Eventually, Richard and Tera did come down to the bar, but they only shared a little small talk before Richard drank his beer, and left with Tera. They had excited smiles on their faces as they left, Owen guessed they planned to spend the rest of the night alone now. Soon after, the rest called it a night too. Bruce stumbled out with Kiara in his arms, and Robert and Lenneth walked calmly back to their rooms. Owen returned to his room and collapsed on the bed after taking off his earpiece and putting it on the bedside table. He didn't bother getting under the sheets, he just closed his eyes and slept on the bed.

* * *

**Author's note: Sorry this chapter took so long to post, but there is another chapter coming out very soon. ^^ As always, wanna thank BigBossSonic and hironada for reading through this and editing it!  
**


	56. Something's watching

It was now morning, rays of light shone through the thick leaves of the jungle trees. Tobias, Louis, Reaper and Kovick were walking through the jungle, feeling worn out. They had been living off what little clean water they could get, seeing as most of the rivers on this island had thousands of parasites living in it. Food was hard to come across too, there wasn't many fruits growing in the area they were now in, they had to resort to eating the few snakes they had come across. Tobias insisted everyone eat what they could get to keep their strength up, he had resorted to eating bugs. He didn't mind though, he did what he had to do. Louis hoped he wouldn't have to eat what Tobias ate. It had now been six days since Tobias rescued the others, and since then, they had been dodging wild Pokémon and slaver patrols whilst trying to keep their tracks hidden. Fortunatly though, Tobias handed Kovick and Louis translators. He had stolen them from a camp of soldiers. The fact that normal soldiers were carrying something like translators worried Tobias. It seemed that Silas was arming his men with better technology. He knew Silas' men had been toying around with translators for a while, but to have them mass produced for his men seemed very expensive. He guessed either money wasn't a worry for Silas, or they had found a way to make these translators at a low cost.

Tobias told the others that on his way to rescue them, he saw soldiers from Silas' army carrying out executions. He saw men lined up against a wall and gunned down, Tobias guessed that those men were the ones the slavers couldn't sell, or the ones they couldn't break. Tobias told the others he couldn't save those men without giving himself away, but seeing them gave him a plan. Tobias told them that it was highly likely that there was some form of slave housing on the island. His plan was to break those slaves out, arm them and lead a fight to either control the island, or get off it. He wasn't even sure if his own plan would work, but it seemed like it was the only chance they had. The four of them couldn't fight this many people by themselves, they had to get help. Tobias was determined to not give up.

Kovick pushed past the dense foliage with the others, while keeping an eye on Tobias. Kovick was a little concerned about him, he taken the worst beating out of all of them. He hoped that the wounds on his thigh and the cut on his back don't get infected with something. He was also worried a little about the cut on Louis' forearm, there was a possibility that could get infected too. Things didn't look good for them all, Tobias was moving slowly because of his wounds, Louis was worried about finding food, but Reaper was different, he wasn't beaten as badly as the others and seemed to adapt to this new environment quite well. Louis couldn't stand this humidity, he was stressed enough as it was with having to deal with watching out for snakes and spiders. Everywhere looked the same to Louis now, just leafs, vines, mud, grass, and trees, with the occasional muddy river or rocky terrain. Louis hated everything about this place, the soldiers, the heat, the hostile wildlife, there wasn't one good thing he could think of about this place. He looked from side to side, and then he stopped in his tracks when he saw something to his left, next to a tree. "What's that?" he asked the others as he pointed over to what looked to be a human shaped pile of ordinary clothes.

Tobias looked over to it, before walking over. As he got closer, he saw the clothes had human bones underneath them, the skull looked like it had been shattered. "Skeletal remains, doesn't look like a soldier. Possibly a slave that tried to escape. We might be closer to the slave housing than I thought." he concluded as he walked back over to the others.

Reaper looked back over to Tobias as he began to wonder what he was going to do when he gets to the slave housing. "Which way do you think the housing is?" Reaper asked him.

"Not sure." Tobias bluntly replied as he walked off in the direction he guessed it was in.

Everybody else just followed Tobias, guessing that he'd have the best chance of finding the slaves anyway. They all knew that Tobias wasn't the kindest of people, and he may not be a great leader, but he gained their trust when he saved them. They walked on for hours, seeing no signs of soldiers from Silas' army, or any escaped slaves. It was beginning to get dark now, they had to think about shelter. They quickly gathered up branches, big leafs and twigs, using them to create four small tent-like shelters. Now the sun had disappeared completely, and everything was now near pitch black. Tobias stayed awake with Kovick, keeping watch as they sat down with their legs crossed. Tobias didn't want to let his guard down, he knew the vipers won't bother trying to take them alive next time.

Kovick didn't like the silence between the two of them, so he started talking. Kovick had a lot of questions for Tobias anyway. "Tobias, can I ask you a question?" Kovick inquired. Tobias simply nodded, not bothering to point out that he had already asked one. "Do you think we're going to make it off this island alive?" Kovick asked him.

"I'm confident that at least one of us will." Tobias honestly replied, not telling him that he really meant the chances of himself getting out alive were high.

"Just one of us? What are the chances of getting someone else off this island alive then?" Kovick asked him.

"Low." Tobias told him as he kept looking past the jungle trees, scanning his surroundings.

"Low?... At least you're honest." Kovick said, hiding the fact that he was slowly losing hope of seeing his friends and family again.

Tobias didn't have to listen to Kovick or even look at him to know he was losing hope, he knew that this was all stressful for the three men following him. 'If only they knew what I have been through, maybe then things here would seem brighter for them.' Tobias thought to himself. "Now let me ask you a question." Tobias said to the man next to him.

Kovick just looked back to Tobias before saying, "go ahead."

"Are you ready to die?" Tobias coldly asked him.

Kovick was surprised at his question, he didn't think Tobias meant it in a threatening way however. "No, I'm not, and I never will be." Kovick told him.

"You treat the dying and badly injured, you must have seen people die before. Are you afraid of death?" Tobias asked him whilst avoiding eye contact with Kovick.

"No, it's not that. I just think that I have more to live for. I think I'm better off alive than dead." Kovick replied, raising his voice a little, but quickly remembering to lower it.

"I don't think you should have joined this mission then." Tobias bluntly responded.

"I can see why you'd think that, but if I refused to join, then I could have lost another chance to save a life, I thought the team would need me." Kovick stated as he looked straight at Tobias.

"We do need people like you on this mission. We also need people who are ready to die, and will do the hard things when they have to." Tobias told Kovick.

"People like the vipers? I don't think so. I think we need people who aren't ready to die and fight for what they want to live for." Kovick quickly argued.

"The vipers fight for money most of the time. They live for money, power, or the thrill of killing, and a lot of them live for it." Tobias responded.

Kovick sighed before thinking of something to steer this conversation in another direction. "Can I ask you something else?" he questioned him.

"Yes." Tobias simply responded.

"Are you married?" Kovick randomly asked him.

Tobias quickly looked towards Kovick. He was about to ask why Kovick asked that question, but he quickly decided against it as he thought it would arouse suspicion. "I used to be." Tobias said as he hoped Kovick would just drop this line of questioning. He hoped no one would bring something up like this to him again, like Reaper did.

"Want to talk about it?" Kovick asked him in a comforting tone of voice.

Tobias thought about talking to Kovick about it. Tobias thought of Kovick as the type of person that could keep secrets, and he had a lot of secrets he wanted to get off his chest. "Maybe later." he said before letting out a small and quiet sigh. "Enough about me, what about you? I've heard you're planning to be with a Ninetales, is that correct?" he quickly added.

"Yeah but... Maybe I shouldn't tell her how I feel if I ever do get a chance." Kovick told him.

"Why not?" Tobias questioned him.

"She's older than I am... Quite a bit older, but she'll still outlive me... I... I don't want to be selfish. She deserves to be with one of her own kind, because even if she does fall for me... I just wouldn't want to leave her with a broken heart when I pass away." Kovick answered him as he now stared down at the ground.

"No one is immortal Kovick, we all have to die some time." Tobias reminded him.

"I know... I've been around enough patients to learn that... What do you think I should do?" Kovick asked.

"I'm not the right person you should be asking. I've only ever had one relationship before." Tobias quickly informed him.

"I still want your opinion though." Kovick said as he now kept eye contact with Tobias.

"I think that a human and a Ninetales in a romantic relationship would run into a lot of complications, but I suppose every relationship comes with challenges. I'd suggest that you should try dating, you may meet someone else you like." Tobias told him.

"Maybe I should." Kovick said before letting out a little sigh.

"How long has this been on your mind?" Tobias asked him.

"I've been thinking about telling her how I feel for a while, but I couldn't work up the courage to tell her." Kovick told him as he now looked down to the ground.

Tobias didn't respond, instead he just tapped Kovick on the shoulder and pointed forwards, towards some of the surrounding trees. "Over there." Tobias whispered to him before silently standing up whilst raising the AK in his hands. "Wake up the others." Tobias whispered, before he heard a rustling noise in one of the bushes followed by the sound of something small quickly scarpering away. Tobias quickly sprinted towards the source of the noise as he tried to keep his AK pointed forwards, but it became clear to him that he had to throw caution and safety out of the window if he wanted to keep up with whatever was watching them. He charged past the trees and bushes in the jungle as he followed what he now guessed were paw steps. He couldn't see much in the darkness, so he relied on his ears more than his eyes. He kept running as the pain in his thigh began to build up whilst he tried to keep himself from limping. He almost tripped up on large branches and vines, then suddenly, the sound of the paw steps stopped.

Tobias was still trying to keep up, but then a split second later, a blaze of flames was sent his way as if someone was firing a flamethrower at him. The light was almost blinding, and the heat was immense. He didn't have time to bring up his AK and return fire, so he dived to his right, and tumbled down a muddy steep hill. He felt his right shoulder hit a tree as he continued tumbling down the hill. Eventually, he began rolling on his side before quickly forcing himself to come to a stop by digging his fingers into the mud. His clothes were now covered in moist dirt as he stood up and looked up the hill he tumbled down, which was about fifty feet higher than he was. As he looked up to the top, he caught a little glimpse of something orange quickly moving away from the edge. Tobias started looking for his AK, finding it a few feet away from him. He quickly picked it up as he ignored the aching feeling in his right shoulder, and began unsteadily. He wasn't feeling great now, he failed to get his target, the enemy may now know where they are and to top it all off, Tobias received another minor injury. He felt like this place would eventually kill him as he climbed back up the hill and headed back to the others.

An hour later, they found themselves walking in near complete darkness. Tobias' limp worsened, he began to regret trying to sprint after the Pokémon that had spotted them. Kovick warned Tobias not to try anything like that again, he also gave him a warning to keep away from any rivers. Kovick didn't want any flesh eating parasites to be eating away at the wound on Tobias' leg while they were all trying to stay alive. Everyone was tired, but they kept moving on. Tobias was leading them past the trees quietly, until he heard something. He stopped in his tracks immediately.

"Stop." Tobias said as he looked back to the others, now seeing Kovick, Louis and Reaper standing still. They stayed frozen in their spots for a few seconds as they listened out for anything. There were sounds coming from everywhere, mostly bugs and birds, but past the noise of the wildlife, they heard gunshots in the distance. Tobias turned to his right and began walking in the direction he heard the gunshots coming from. "They're probably executing more slaves." Tobias told them as he kept on walking.

Kovick became worried now, they weren't in very good shape right now, especially Tobias. He didn't think they could put up much of a fight against a group of soldiers. "Do you think we should really be fighting them now?" Kovick said to Tobias.

"It's late, visibility is low. It's the perfect time to launch an attack. Do as I say, and we'll live." Tobias firmly told them.

No one liked this, but they knew that they had to strike Silas' men soon, and now was a good time to do so. They kept moving on, towards where they heard the gunshots coming from. Reaper had to cut through some thick foliage on the way there, but other than that, the walk was fairly uneventful, until they saw lights beyond the trees. They lay prone behind trees and bushes as they looked down to two buildings made from solid concrete. There were a few dim lights inside the buildings, and outside the building were a few bodies. Tobias instantly knew something was wrong, he spotted bodies of slavers and soldiers, as well as the bodies of people in plain dirty clothes. "They all have guns near their bodies... Perhaps the slaves are fighting back." Tobias whispered to himself.

Reaper carefully watched out for any movement near the building, but saw none. "I see nothing. Nothing alive anyway." he told them.

Tobias now looked over to Louis as he still worked out his plan in his head. "Louis, come with me. Kovick, Reaper, watch for any movement." he said to them before standing up and walking away, making sure to stay hidden behind the foliage of the forest.

Louis stayed close to Tobias as they checked out the buildings from a distance, circling them. Louis noticed that the buildings looked similar to each other, both of them were rectangular, and looked like they were made to withstand a lot of punishment. There were few windows in the buildings, but the few windows they did see were barred up, like they belonged on a prison. Louis guessed that these buildings were probably something like small prisons. There was only one door on each building, heavy looking steel doors. After a while of waiting with Tobias, it was time to move towards the building. There wasn't any cover between the trees and the building, it was just all dirt and dead bodies, so they decided to move fast. Louis sprinted to the building door first as Tobias tried to keep up, limping as he looked all around himself. Tobias soon found himself next to Louis, who now pushed the metal door a little. It was already open a little, so a little push was all it took to open it all the way.

Tobias swiftly entered the building, the first thing he saw were broken chairs and tables to his left. There were three dead bodies in the room, two of them were human soldiers, the other was a dead Houndoom. There was blood splattered all over the walls, one of the soldiers looked like they had their head caved in, while the other looked as if he had his throat torn out, and his right arm ripped off at the shoulder. The Houndoom's body was riddled with bullet holes, from the looks of the walls and floor, the soldiers missed a lot of their shots. To the right of the room, there were numerous cells, enough to fit fifty people if they were cramped in there. The cell doors were open, and the cells themselves were empty, apart from the bunk beds that looked like they were about to fall apart and the toilets that looked like they had seen plenty of use. "There's nothing left for us here. Let's check the other building for supplies." Tobias said to Louis before quickly exiting the building.

As Tobias left the building and headed to the other, he felt as if something was wrong. He felt someone watching him. "Louis, watch the door." he said before pushing open the door, and pointing his AK forwards, ready to shoot anything that tries to take him out. This building had little changes from the other building, there were no doors to the cells, and the cells here looked much nicer. He guessed the soldiers slept here. This building was lit up by the dim ceiling lights, and an electrical lantern in one of the cells. Tobias searched trunks and desks in the cells, finding snacks, water, batteries and a flare gun, all of which he took along with the electrical lantern. He also took a backpack to carry it all in. As he was gathering these things, he looked out of the barred window, and saw something with orange fur duck behind some bushes outside. He knew he felt someone watching him, he just hoped that whatever was watching him didn't know that he just saw it. 'It can escape me only for so long.' Tobias thought to himself as he now left the building and met up with Louis. "We should move." Tobias said to him as they began walking back to the trees, while staying cautious. Tobias didn't know what was watching him, or who killed these soldiers, but he knew tonight was a small victory.

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**Author's note: Didn't hit the 4,000 word mark I was aiming for with this, but at least I got a nice amount done. Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading! And thanks to BigBossSonic and hironada for editing again for me!**


	57. A familiar orange furred face

It was night once again in the jungle. Kovick, Louis and Reaper were all sitting around a small fire, eating some plain rice that they had found and boiled. They just sat down and talked, not knowing that a few feet away, they were being watched. A Pokémon now watched them from the bushes, wondering what these people were up to. They weren't slavers or soldiers, they wore no real uniform. They weren't vipers either, they seemed too under equipped. The Pokémon wondered what they were, and it also wondered where the oldest human had gone to. A few seconds later, after feeling a gun pressed to the back of her furry neck, she got her answer. "Don't move." Tobias said to her, quietly enough to not alert the others to the female Flareon's presence.

Tobias looked around himself just to check that no one else was around with this Flareon that was lying prone on the ground. "Do you understand the language I am speaking?" Tobias asked her. Against what she thought she should do, she replied with a little nod. "Are you working for these slavers occupying this island?" Tobias calmly questioned her. This time the Flareon replied by shaking her head side to side. "Turn around slowly, and look at me." Tobias told the Flareon. A few seconds later, she slowly turned around and looked at Tobias with her big orange eyes. "Are you here to kill us?" Tobias questioned her as he kept his eyes locked on to her's, and his AK pointed at her head. She slowly shook her head again from side to side. Tobias couldn't see any telltale signs of her being deceitful, but he wasn't sure she was telling the truth. Tobias saw the Flareon in front of him as a minor threat, even if she was hostile. "Leave." Tobias ordered her as he stood up.

The Flareon quickly bolted off towards some bushes before pausing to look back at the human. Tobias thought that there was something very, very odd about that Flareon. He wanted to question her more, but he wasn't sure if the responses he already got were truthful. He already felt like letting her go was a mistake, but there was nothing he could do about it now except for wait and see what consequences this would have on things. He walked back over to the others and sat down by the fire. "There was a Flareon watching us." Tobias calmly told the others.

Louis looked straight back to Tobias as soon as he heard that. "Did you do anything about it? Was it trying to kill us?" he quickly inquired.

"I don't believe so. I let her go." Tobias told them as he went back to eating.

Louis was a little shocked, he didn't expect Tobias to show mercy in a place like this. "What if she's working for those slaving bastards?" he asked.

"Then I'll admit I had made a mistake, and we'll move on." Tobias simply replied.

'Why does everything sound so easy when Tobias says shit like that?' Louis thought to himself before going back to eating.

Tobias ate up the rice fairly quickly, and soon it was time to watch out for danger as the others slept. He felt tired, but he was determined to stay alert. He didn't want that Flareon coming back just so she could burn him alive. The night went as expected, Tobias saw nothing so he went to sleep while someone else watched over them. When he woke up the next day, everything went on as normal. They packed up and started walking on. The day went as usual, they walked on in search of more buildings hidden in the jungle, but all they found that day was a dark red muddy puddle with a dead Seviper in it. As it began to get dark, they decided to start building their beds for the night. Tobias set up his quicker than the others as usual before walked off to find some wood for the fire they'd need tonight.

He limped off away from the others, with his AK in one hand and an already opened bottle full with clean water in the other. He put down the bottle of water on a three foot high rock before walking over to a few branches. He was about to pick them up, when he heard a shuffling sound coming from behind him. Tobias spun around and raised his AK with both hands. "You." he quickly said as the Flareon froze in her place, next to the stone with the water bottle on it. "I said leave, I thought we understood each other." Tobias said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. The Flareon stayed frozen in her place, regretting trying to approach the man in front of her. Tobias could see the fear in her eyes as he kept his AK pointed at her, which made him wonder why she approached him in the first place if she was scared to have a gun pointed at her. As he kept looking at her, he noticed her eyes shifting to look at the bottle of water on the rock before she looked back at him. "What do you want?" Tobias asked, thinking he already knew the answer but wanting confirmation.

The frightened Flareon cautiously pointed one of her front paws towards the bottle of water. Tobias then slowly approached her as she began to look more and more frightened, until he picked up the bottle and crouched next to her. "Drink and go." he firmly said to her as he poured a little water into her open mouth as he kept his AK ready to fire if something happened. The Flareon took three mouthfuls of water before Tobias stopped pouring it into her mouth. "Go." Tobias said as he watched the Flareon slowly walk away. He hated to think that he may have just gave the enemy a free drink of water, but he liked to think that he might have just helped someone who needed it the most. Tobias drank the rest of the water and kept the bottle as he picked up some branches for the fire and brought them back to the camp they set up. He didn't bother telling them about the Flareon again, it seemed like she didn't mean to harm anyone anyway. But he had learned to never trust anyone, no matter how harmless or how nice they seemed.

_Tobias now stood in a living room, talking to a woman with long dark brown hair that reached her shoulder blades. "Something is wrong here, I don't understand it. Men like that don't just get caught off guard." he said as he turned his back on her._

"_You'd be surprised... I'm sorry." the woman quietly said to him in a sad tone of voice._

"_Sorry?" Tobias repeated before his eyes widened and he reached into his jacket as he heard the loud crack of a handgun going off in a small room. He felt and heard the bullet entering his back just below his left shoulder blade, ripping through his flesh. Tobias twisted around and fell backwards into a wooden drawer, causing a few pictures to fall off it as he pulled out his gun and fired without even aiming. He watched as two empty 9mm cartridges ejected from the side of his handgun, and saw the woman that had put a bullet in him lurch forward as two bloody holes were put in her stomach. She knelt down on both knees as their eyes locked on to each other for at least two seconds, before Tobias shot her again in the right shoulder, watching her drop to the ground._

Tobias awoke in his little shelter made from branches, vines and leaves. He wiped a little sweat off his forehead as he thought about his dream. He thought it may have been some kind of warning from himself to himself, a reminder of when trust is misplaced. He looked out of his little shelter, towards the fire outside that was now slowly dying out. As he looked at the burning wood on the fire, he was reminded of the Flareon. He felt like there was something wrong about her, but he didn't think she worked with the enemy, unless Silas had some good info on him. He didn't know what was wrong with that Flareon, all that he knew is that he'd try to keep his guard up for as long as he could. As he thought about all the potential for betrayal, he was reminded of why he decided to work alone.

Reaper now walked over to Tobias' shelter and crouched by it. "Your turn to keep watch again Tobias." he told the human.

"Good." Tobias said as he crawled out of his shelter.

"Good? Didn't think I'd hear anyone say that when I ask them to keep watch." Reaper said with a smile.

"Louis and Kovick don't have the same things on their mind as I do." Tobias replied as he walked a short distance away from the Scyther before sitting down on a wet log.

"What do you have on your mind?" Reaper asked the human as he sat down next to him.

"I don't want to say. Not at this moment anyway." Tobias told him.

"Come on Tobias, we're all stuck here together, we might as well get to know who's got our backs. I already know a lot about Kovick, but you're keeping to yourself even though you seem to have become our leader." Reaper said to him.

"I'm not a good person Reaper, you don't want to get to know me." Tobias said, looking as if he was tired of talking.

"You came back for us and rescued us, you didn't have to do that yet you did anyway." Reaper said with what looked like a smile as he tried to cheer Tobias up.

Tobias let out a small grunt. "It was the smart option, nothing more." he replied.

'He isn't even trying to be friendly. It's like he avoids friends like a flesh eating virus!' Reaper thought to himself as he sighed briefly. "I believe there's good in you Tobias." he told him.

"One person's good is another person's hell." Tobias stated as he got up and walked off into the forest, not bothering to say another word to Reaper.

Reaper just watched him walk off. 'I don't think he has any friends. With an attitude like that I can see why.' he thought to himself before walking back off to his shelter.

Tobias walked away from the camp before resting his back against a tree, and looking around his surroundings. As he looked around, his mind began to wonder, thinking about his dream, and his past. 'Why didn't she just kill me? She could have shot me in the head, she could have gave me no warning... But she chose to say those words, why? Did she want me to live? Did she want to die?' he thought to himself before looking down to the ground. 'I'm doing this again, I'm dwelling on the past. Concentrate on keeping watch.'

he thought before wondering if that Flareon was still watching them, he wondered who else could be watching them. As he wondered this, he thought he heard something in the distance, something in the bushes. He wasn't surprised, he thought that Flareon would show its face again, but he soon realized that sound he heard wasn't coming from a Flareon. He saw a human shaped silhouette in the distance, and as soon as he did, he ran back to the camp to get his AK. He ran past the campfire that was now almost completely burnt out, and grabbed his gun.

Reaper looked over to him from his shelter, seeing the human more alert than usual. "Is there trouble?" he asked the human.

"Wake the others, we're moving out now." Tobias said as he quickly walked by Kovick's tent and kicked his thigh a little.

Kovick quickly woke up and looked up at Tobias. "What?" he tiredly said.

Tobias opened his mouth to order him to get up, but the gunfire quickly interrupted him. Tobias didn't know who they were aiming for or who they even were, but he knew they couldn't stand around any longer. "Grab your gun and run!" Tobias shouted as he quickly raised his AK and started firing back in two short bursts at the direction he could hear them firing from. Whenever he saw a muzzle flash, he fired at that, but the visibility was very poor. It was very poor until the trees about ten feet away from him were lit up by what looked like three men in fire resistant green suits with gas masks. Tobias was going to take the shot while Louis, Reaper and Kovick ran past him,  
but he quickly realized they were exposing themselves for a reason. He saw men behind the flamethrower units, men with AK's who now fired as Tobias sprinted with his bad leg to get away. Tobias ran past trees in a zigzagging pattern to get away as he saw Louis, Kovick and Reaper stopping so Louis and Kovick could fire back in the direction of the flames and gunfire.

As Tobias caught up with the others, Louis felt his AK fly out of his hands from the force of a bullet hitting the barrel of his gun. "Shit! Fucking run man!" he shouted over the loud gunfire before quickly running away with the others.

They ran as fast as they could, trying to dodge bullets and slowing back down to cover Tobias. At one point, one of the soldiers chasing them fired a red flare up in the night sky. Tobias guessed it was their way of signaling to other soldiers in the area that they had spotted someone they want dead. But if that was the case, he wondered why those soldiers were no longer pursuing them. It seemed like they had backed off a little, he didn't know why when they were so close to getting off a lucky shot but he didn't mind. It meant he no longer had to keep limping away, but it did mean they'd have to find somewhere secure and safe next time they set up camp.

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**Author's notes: Hope ya all liked this! The next chapter will follow Richard's group as they travel through Kanto! Prepare for good memories popping into Richard's and Tera's heads as they pass familiar places. Oh, I wanna thank BigBossSonic and Hironada for editing this by the way! Oh, and as always, I wanna thank the readers for reading! :3  
**


	58. 18th floor balcony

**Author's note: Okay, made a mistake back in chapter 56 so I made an update to that. A few things have changed, Tobias, Kovick and Louis now have translators, as do the grunts of Silas' army. Tobias stole 3 of these translators, just in case you're wondering where they came from. That's the only thing that has changed so far, just thought I should give you readers a heads up in case you go wondering why they're suddenly talking to Pokemon without translators in later chapters. :D Also yes, Lenneth's hair was always blue, it's just that when they first met, her hair couldn't be seen through the ghille suit. Sorry I didn't mention this earlier.  
**

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The previous day.

"Fucking floor her Richard!" Bruce shouted out as everyone with the exception of Owen watched Richard and Tera sparring outside by the road.

Kiara growled at Before before shouting over to Tera. "Show this idiot what a Pokémon can do!" she exclaimed as she pointed over to Bruce.

Bruce smirked as he looked back at Kiara. "Pokémon don't have shit on us humans." he told Kiara.

"We have powers! We can read minds, breathe fire and ice, even throw balls of energy and-" Kiara was quickly interrupted by Bruce.

"Blah, blah, blah, you like my balls of energy! You might be able to do that shit, but I have something most of you don't!" Bruce proudly said as he grinned.

"A drinking problem?" Kiara quickly replied with a giggle.

"Fuck you bitch!" Bruce shouted before raising his hands and wriggling his thumbs. "Opposable thumbs! Hard to do much without them isn't it ice queen?" he quickly retorted before laughing.

"If you want to keep those, you better stop wriggling them." Kiara responded with a playful growl.

"Heh, try it. I'll just bitch slap you right back into the little ice cave you crawled out from." Bruce quickly said as he crossed his arms and stood there with a smug look on his face. Kiara smirked before quickly jumping up at Bruce and kicking him with all four paws in his stomach before quickly running off. "Bitch!" he shouted before trying to chase her down.

Lenneth looked over to both Bruce and Kiara. 'They're so violent.' she thought to herself before looking over to Richard.

Richard now had Tera in a tight headlock. He looked down at the back of her head as he shouted, "Give up yet?"

Tera just let out a loud growl as she wrapped one arm around Richard's waist, and used her other arm to try and get his leg off the ground. She used all her might to lift Richard before she fell backwards onto the grassy ground. Richard's back quickly made contact with the ground, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to loosen his hold on Tera. She quickly pulled his arm away from her neck as she rolled off to the side before standing up. Richard quickly got back up on his feet too and looked towards his opponent, who now had a little smirk on her face. "You should have given up." Richard said as he quickly raised his fists.

"I won't let you win easily." Tera said to him as she rubbed her neck a little before raising her paws.

Richard smiled before saying, "I think you're becoming really predictable!"

Before Richard ended that sentence, he lunged forwards and threw a straight punch at her. Tera thought quickly, and punched back. Her paw connected with Richard's fist, sending a sharp pain through both of them which they both ignored. A split second later, Tera sent her other paw into Richard's stomach, causing him to lurch forward and allowing her to quickly wrap her arm around his head. She was very careful to not cut Richard's neck with the spike on her wrist. "Give up yet?" Tera asked in a cocky tone.

Richard responded by grabbing her rear and lifting her up off her feet. A small gasp could be heard from Tera as he ran a few feet before tripping and slamming her back into the ground. It didn't take them long to recover, they scrambled back to their feet within the next second. Richard had a few thoughts on Tera's spikes, he thought up of a way for Tera to kill a person after or whilst getting them in a headlock. He'd have to mention them to her later, but for now, he had to keep his mind focused on the little sparring match he got himself into. "Not given up yet." he said to her as he wiped a little sweat off his forehead.

Tera smiled as she said, "I know you will do. You're sweating already."

"You know, I can do a lot while I'm sweating." he told her whilst smirking. He couldn't help but be a little flirty with her, after all, his hands were on her butt a few moments ago.

Tera blushed a little, knowing the others could hear them. "I know you can." she replied with an almost shy smile. Lenneth who was watching from a short distance away had a slight blush on her face after overhearing them, but Robert just kept watching without much of a reaction.

Without warning, Richard took two quick steps forward before kicking out at Tera, aiming at her stomach. Tera quickly jumped back to avoid the kick before she took a few steps forward and twisted around to unleash a powerful kick of her own. Richard tried to grab her foot, but she was too quick. He got kicked hard and fast directly to his stomach, causing him to stumble back. He held his stomach with one hand for a few moments whilst keeping his eyes locked on Tera. He had a feeling he was going to be sore for a while.

Tera was a little concerned for him, but she couldn't stop herself from saying a couple of words. "Give up?" she asked him.

Richard decided to strike quickly, so he quickly approached her and threw a right hook. When she ducked, he raised his leg and quickly tried to kick her down to the ground, but Tera simply used both paws to pull the foot that was supporting Richard from underneath him. Richard fell to the ground with a loud thud, and from that moment, he knew he wasn't going to win this match. He rested on the ground for a few moments and looked over to Tera who now knelt beside him. "Give up now?" Tera softly asked him.

Richard let out a small sigh before saying, "I guess you win this one then."

Tera now smirked a little as she stood up and held a paw out for Richard. "You shouldn't have called me predictable." she told him as she smiled.

Richard let out a short little chuckle before grabbing her paw and getting back on his feet. "I was just teasing you." he told her as he held her paw in his hand.

Tera gave Richard a quick kiss on his lips before saying, "I knew you were. I didn't kick you too hard did I?"

"I'll probably still be feeling it tomorrow, but I'm fine. That was a good kick by the way." Richard told her.

"Thank you." Tera said to him before pulling him into a soft hug, and letting him go a few moments later.

Richard looked over Tera's shoulder and saw Owen waving over before getting into the car. "Looks like break time is over, but maybe we could have a rematch later tonight." he said, smirking a little as he thought of getting a little intimate with her.

Tera smiled and gave Richard a little kiss on his cheek. "We'll see who has the best endurance tonight." she said to him, trying to keep her voice down just in case someone overheard her.

"I say we should test our endurance a few times before deciding the winner." Richard said with a smile as he walked back over to the car.

Owen was already waiting in the car, watching everyone get in. "Looks like our friend is coming out of hiding, I just got a message from him saying he'll meet us at some abandoned warehouse. I don't like the sound of the location but he said it is the best place to meet." he told them all.

Richard closed the car door behind himself before sitting next to Tera. "A warehouse? Why didn't Mac just meet us somewhere normal, like a shopping mall or a hotel?" he asked Owen.

"He said he didn't want to risk the lives of innocent bystanders." Owen told them. 'But I think it's because he likes the thought of having someplace big. Perhaps he's overcompensating for something.' he thought before driving them on their way to their next destination.

Tera rested her head on Richard's shoulder as she saw familiar buildings out of the window. They just passed passed the police station she used to work at with Richard. They were passing through their home town. She thought about seeing her friends again, Ethan, Lucy, Stripes, Cleaves and everybody else. She wanted to see them again to say one last goodbye to them, but she knew that they had places to be. She hoped that they were staying in Hoenn for a while, she didn't want to go to more places like Kanto. At least here she knew she could hug and kiss the man she loves without having to worry about people coming to take them away just for being in love. She knew here, there were people who like them. She knew that she'd settle down with Richard here when everything is back to normal. She knew this was the place she'd spend the rest of her life in, with her human partner.

Tera was now lost in her daydreams, and she wasn't the only one. Richard saw reminders of life before they came on this mission. He saw the one of the first places they ate and drank at when they arrived in this town, he saw the shop he met Ethan in, and they now drove down the same road he got shot on. That day that man shot him was the day Richard's life truly felt complete. He remembered confessing his love for Tera, he remembered nearly every single detail of that night. His mouth opened a little as he remembered his first kiss with Tera. That one kiss felt better than anything he had ever experienced before that moment, and it wasn't long after that he had an even better experience. When he made love to her, he had no idea that there was a chance he could end up getting her pregnant. That made him wonder, what if he had gotten her pregnant? He couldn't imagine leaving Tera behind. He knew that if Tera was pregnant, he would have rejected Owen's offer to join this team.

Richard couldn't stop thinking about all these probabilities, all these 'what if' questions. Part of him was glad he came on this mission. He knew Kiara wouldn't have met Bruce if they didn't join Owen. But there was the part of him that really wasn't happy that he was on this mission. He knew the risks he was taking on this mission, he knew that there was a chance that he wouldn't live to see tomorrow, and there was a chance he'd see Tera breathe her last breath. It was that last thought he tried to keep out of his head ever since the first attack by Silas' men. Richard just couldn't stop thinking.

Lenneth picked up on the emotions of the couple in the car, sensing their love and worry for each other. She smiled lightly as she looked over to the couple who were both too deep in their thoughts to notice her staring a little. Lenneth never saw a human and pokémon together as lovers in Kanto. Seeing the two of them together made Lenneth wonder if Robert would be open to something like that. She hoped he would be. "Y-y-you seem like a-a nice c-couple." Lenneth stuttered to the pair of them.

Tera smiled after hearing those words. "Thank you, I like your hair by the way." she happily said as she looked at the Gardevoir's blue hair.

Lenneth smiled a little. "R-really? I-I don't think m-many p-people like it." she replied.

"I think it looks nice and different, almost makes me wish I had hair like you." Tera said to her with a big smile on her face.

Robert smiled as he watched the two of them talk, he was glad to see she was making friends so easily.

After a while of driving, Kiara heard the sound of loose stones under the wheels of the car they were in. She thought that they must be driving off road right now, so she tried looking out of the window, now seeing they were driving on a path leading into the forest. "Are we nearly there yet?" Kiara asked.

Owen looked back for a split second before looking back to the gravely road. "Yes, almost there." he replied as he noticed a large gray warehouse begin to appear as he kept on driving up the gravel road. As he kept on driving, he noticed a chain link fence surrounding the warehouse, with two armed people dressed in black at the only gate there. "I suggest everyone grabs their guns, just in case." he said as he stopped the car by the gate.

The humans in the group made sure they had everything they needed, Robert had his rifle and revolver ready, Richard and Tera both had their vests on, and Bruce was sober enough to use a gun. One of the men dressed in black combat gear looked at Owen before signaling for the other guard to open the gate. Owen watched as the two men opened the gate for him, allowing him to drive the car right up to the warehouse before hearing Mac's voice in his ear again.

"About time you made it, what happened? Get lost in a janitor's closet?" Mac taunted him through the earpiece.

"Nice to be working with you too." Owen said through the earpiece before switching it off for a brief moment. "Asshole." he said before switching it back on.

"I can see you outside the warehouse on my monitors, tell the others to get out and come meet me in here. Just use the small gray door this massive warehouse has. Oh, and try not to break anything when you're in here." Mac told him.

'If I didn't need his help, I'd smash a computer over his head.' Owen thought to himself before saying, "I'll try not to break one of your precious toys."

"Good, now stop yapping and get in here. Mac out." he said before the familiar static crackling sound was heard by Owen through his ear piece.

Owen wished he would never have to work with Mac again, but he had to if this mission was going to succeed. "Let's go." Owen said to the others as he stopped the engine and climbed out of the car with the others before walking to the only entrance he could see into the warehouse. Almost as soon as he opened the door, he could tell this wasn't any normal warehouse. The vast space inside was being used for computers more than storage and there were a couple of hundred people at computers typing away. He could see more than a few guards around too, one of which approached Owen.

"Mac wants to speak with you." The armed man in the black balaclava said to him before leading them past a few computers, and walking over to a familiar looking dark skinned man sipping something out of a mug that had the word 'Mine' written on it. It was clear to Richard, Owen, Tera and Kiara that it was Mac, but he looked a little different to Richard. Mac was wearing an expensive looking black suit instead of his paint stained clothes he had gotten used to seeing him in. "

Mac immediately noticed Owen, Richard and Tera walking over to him before they even reached him. "Hey, Richard, Tera! I see you're both putting your vests to good use." he shouted over to them before noticing Kiara. "Hey Kiara!" he quickly said to her.

"Hi!" Kiara shouted with a little smile on her face.

Richard smiled as he walked over to Mac. "It's good to see you again, how's everyone back home?" he asked.

"Ethan and Lucy are two little love birds, and I'm glad they got together because have you tasted their cooking? Their food tastes good! Cleaves and Stripes though, they're a little strange. So nothing's changed." Mac said with a little smirk.

Richard chuckled a little as remembered the times Ethan and Lucy cooked up some food for everyone at the station. "Glad to hear that at least everything is normal back at home, but can you help us with our missing men? Those people are good people, and we want them back." Richard told him.

"Is Tobias really a good guy? I always imagined him to be like all deadly serious and stuff considering his body count." Mac replied.

"He's serious, but he's the kind of person we need." Richard told him.

"Knew it, anyway I tracked the earpieces they were wearing, but one of them were destroyed and the other two just led to roadside bombs. These people that took your guys were good, I don't even think they used radios, cellphones or anything like that when they took your people. They were very careful, and... I'm sorry, I just don't know where they are. They could be anywhere." Mac told them as he began to feel beaten.

Richard sighed a little before looking straight back at Mac. "You think we have any chance of tracking them down?" he questioned him.

"I think I can, but I think every soldier, viper and slaver is going to be very careful to keep their location a secret. I'll be straight with you Richard, I don't think these guys are dead, if they were, we'd have a video of their executions floating around the internet and sent right to our front door. Metaphorically of course... Well, maybe literally." Mac said to them.

'Useless.' Owen thought to himself. "Helpful as always Mac." he said to him.

"I'm sorry, did you say something? I couldn't hear you from the janitors closet." Mac replied with a smirk on his face, making the others around Owen wonder what he meant by that.

Owen crossed his arms as he restrained himself from shouting at the man in front of him."Cute, Mac. Real cute. When you decide to be useful and stop playing around with those small joy sticks and your little toys, tell me, because we need your help, not your smart ass comments." he retorted.

"Alright, alright. Listen, I got you all rooms in one of the best hotels in Hoenn. It's down in Slateport City. It's secure, and I got rooms with double beds as a little added bonus for some people." Mac said as he winked at Richard and handed Owen a map.

Richard chuckled a little. "Great, I think everyone could use a good rest." he said as he looked back at his team.

Owen was sure Mac didn't mean to be sneakily nasty with those words, but part of him just felt angrier hearing those words from him. Mac knew about his break up, and he knew that Slateport used to be one of his favorite places to be in with his ex. "We should leave." Owen said to the others as he turned around and walked back the way he came from whilst slipping the map into his jacket pocket.

Both Tera and Lenneth could pick up on something wrong with Owen, something that was making him both angry and sad although they weren't sure what was making him feel like that. Richard looked back to Mac, saying his thanks before following Owen out of the warehouse. He wanted to ask Owen why he didn't seem to get along with him, but he guessed he could always just ask him later. Owen didn't really look like he wanted to talk right now. Everyone followed Owen back to the car, chatting away as they climbed back into their seats as the engine roared to life.

A few hours later...

"It's amazing." Tera said as she looked out to the ocean, watching as the sun slowly disappeared on the horizon. She was standing out on the balcony with Richard on the 18th floor of the hotel.

"It's nice view, but all I have to do is turn my head and look at you for a better one." Richard said with a little smile on his face.

Tera looked back at Richard, smirking a little. "You don't have to compliment me if you want a kiss." she replied.

Richard chuckled a little as he looked up and down Tera's attractive figure. "What if I want something more than a kiss? What do I have to do then?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Ask." Tera simply replied as she rubbed his clothed chest with her paws.

"How about we see how comfortable our bed is?" Richard said with a smirk on his face.

Tera said nothing more, instead, she held one of his hands with both paws as she led him over to the bed. Richard was about to say something until Tera pushed him onto the bed, surprising him with her strength and agility as she quickly climbed on top of him, and kissed him passionately. Richard guessed he wasn't the only one that needed a release.

Meanwhile, Owen lay alone on his double bed. The room was nice and fancy, everything in the room was spotless and dust free, but he hated it here. He couldn't get a familiar face out of his head, but he wasn't sure he wanted to. He felt depressed, lonely and unwanted. It seemed to him like everyone had someone except for him. He knew Robert and Lenneth were good friends, he knew Bruce and Kiara loved every second of shouting at each other, and he knew that Richard and Tera were pretty much mated for life. He knew all the remaining teammates had someone in front of them to talk to, and he didn't. All Owen felt like he had was Rhea, his friend who he had never even seen before despite working with her for over ten years. Even though he was her friend, he still didn't trust her at times. He knew she'd lead him into a trap if she knew he'd get out alive, just like she did before meeting up with Robert and Lenneth. He needed someone he could trust, someone that wouldn't willingly put him in danger. He wanted Chase back.

"I need a drink." Owen tiredly said to himself as he looked towards his door, leading out of his room.

Sometime later, Richard slowly opened his eyes as he felt Tera's arm draped over him. He could feel her fur on his back, as well as the hard spike tickling him. 'That spike is an accident waiting to happen.' Richard jokingly thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes, slowly feeling himself getting a little more awake, but not moving yet. It took him a few more moments to wake up enough to carefully get out of bed, and walk over to the bathroom. He didn't want to wake Tera, he never did when she looked so peaceful in her sleep. Richard took a moment to splash some water on his face, trying to wake himself up a little more before turning off the tap and walking out. He looked back over to Tera, toying with the idea of waking her up and making love to her over and over again, until he realized he was out of condoms. He was a little angry at himself, he woke himself up for nothing, but he guessed even if he did have the condoms, he didn't have the heart to wake her up when she looked like she was dreaming.

Richard had to do something with himself, and it was a big hotel. He knew there was a bar downstairs, and if anyone was awake and down there, it'd be Bruce. He hadn't talked to Bruce that much, so he guessed it'd be a good excuse to learn a little more about him. Richard quietly gathered his clothes, looking back at Tera to make sure she was still asleep as he dressed himself and grabbed the keys to the room before silently leaving the room and closing the door behind himself.

It didn't take long for Richard to walk down the hallway, and get the elevator down to the ground floor. As he got out of the elevator, all he had to do was look through an archway to his left which opened up into a massive bar area, filled with red leather couches and dark granite tables. It was quiet, there were only a few people in the bar area, including himself. Richard looked over to the bar, seeing someone he didn't expect to be down there. Owen was there, sitting at the bar on a fancy looking red leather stool. He didn't look happy, he was looking down at the drink in his bandaged up left hand. "Owen?" Richard said as he walked over to him.

Owen looked to his left, seeing Richard walking over. "Hey, didn't expect you to be down here. Not without Tera anyway." he replied as he quickly emptied the glass down his throat.

Richard sat down on the stool next to him. "She's asleep, like you probably should be. Why are you still up and drinking? I didn't even knew you drank." he said to him.

"I don't drink often. I just had a few things on my mind." Owen responded in a somewhat sad sounding tone of voice.

"Like what?" Richard asked him, curious as to what could possibly get a hardened agent like Owen sad.

Owen sighed as he looked down to the empty glass in his hands. "I've been thinking about my ex... I haven't stopped thinking about him ever since we parted ways." the agent told him.

'Him?' Richard thought for a second before realizing that the agent was either bisexual or gay. "I didn't know you like other guys Owen." he said, secretly hoping that he hadn't misheard Owen.

Owen looked back to Richard with a surprised look on his face. "You didn't? I just assumed Kovick would have told you that." he told him.

"Kovick keeps to himself most of the time, we rarely chat." Richard told him with a smile.

Owen smiled back as he said, "I'm glad it doesn't seem to bother you."

"Well, I know what it's like in a way. Should've seen the looks me and Tera got when we were on the boat to Kanto." Richard happily said to him.

Owen chuckled a little. "Sorry we couldn't have gotten on a different boat." he said to Richard.

"Don't be sorry, that night on that boat was something to remember." Richard said with a little smile before stopping himself, realizing he may have said too much.

Owen smiled a little, knowing exactly what Richard meant. "Did I ever tell you about what an amazing couple I think you and Tera make?" he asked him.

Richard could tell Owen must have had a few drinks, but that didn't stop him from grinning at his words. "No, I don't think you ever did." he replied.

"Seeing you two together... seeing how committed you both are to each other has got me thinking." Owen told him as he looked back down to his empty glass, wondering if he should get it refilled with some strong spirit.

"What about?" Richard asked.

"About my ex, Chase... I... I remembered thinking before, maybe I could just drop this mission. I might not be alive tomorrow, I doubt we'll ever change the world or anything so... I just want to be happy, with Chase." Owen told him as his tone of voice changed from a happy one, to a suddenly very depressed one.

"He means a lot to you, doesn't he?" Richard asked him, his voice staying friendly and comforting.

Owen looked straight back at Richard, he had a feeling that the man next to him could see the pain he's held in himself for a while. "I want to just give up everything and run back to Chase and beg him to take me back... I can't do that though. Not with everything I've sacrificed so far just to leave a dent in Silas' army. Now we've got missing men, Silas' men trying to catch us off guard and kill us, and I'm not helping things by sitting at this damn bar wanting to drink myself to death. It's my own damn fault those men are gone, I picked them out for this mission." he responded as his voice grew louder with anger and regret.

"Don't be so hard on yourself Owen. It's not your fault those men are missing, and you could always go back to Chase when this is all over, right?" Richard said to him, trying to make the agent next to him feel a little better.

"I don't know if he'll take me back. I don't know if I even deserve him." Owen said as he looked away from both his glass, and Richard.

"What if he's been missing you? What if he wants you back?" Richard quickly questioned him.

"Then I'll tell him I've been an idiot and say sorry over a thousand times, before hopefully going back to his place and living our lives together." Owen said with a faint smile as he imagined being together with the Gallade he couldn't stop thinking of before looking back to Richard. "How do you and Tera get along so well?" he added.

Richard smiled as he shrugged. "I don't know, maybe it's because we agree on nearly everything, or maybe her aura sensing abilities have something to do with it. I'm not sure." he replied.

"Whatever the reason, I see you both care deeply about each other." Owen responded as he looked over to the shelves of drinks, wondering which one to have next. "I'm a little envious to be honest." he said before quickly seeing a surprised expression on Richard's face.

"You're envious of me?" Richard quickly said, making sure he wasn't just hearing things.

"Who wouldn't be? Every single guy would probably kill to be in your position. A deputy with a loving girlfriend who would put her life on the line for you. Even though you've made me a little envious, I'm glad I've met both you and Tera. You've both given me hope, I was almost beginning to accept that I'll never see Chase again before I met you two." Owen happily told him.

"Don't ever lose that hope Owen. If Chase really loves you, he'll take you back." Richard comfortingly said to him.

"I hope he does... I have something to ask you." Owen said as looked straight at Richard.

"Ask away." Richard said with a smile on his face.

"How long did you know Tera before you told her how you felt about her?" Owen asked him.

"Probably a little more than a month, how long did it take you to tell Chase how you felt about him?" Richard inquired.

"About three years, I guess at the time I wasn't sure if I was bisexual or not because the only guy I was attracted to was Chase." Owen told him as he thought back to the moment he told Chase about his feelings towards him.

"Three years is a long time, how did you meet him?" Richard asked as he became more and more interested in Owen's personal life.

"He was an agent at the time, we were operating in the same area and we both needed someone to watch our backs. The agency paired us up with each other, and our success rate went through the roof. I heard the only person keeping up with our results was an older man, now that I've heard about what Tobias can do, I wouldn't be surprised if that was him. Heh, I remember Chase telling me we should push ourselves harder because his grandpa was probably kicking our asses." Owen chuckled a little as he remembered better times.

Richard was glad to see Owen looking happier, he wanted to make sure the agent stayed like that. "How old is Chase? Is he younger or older than you?" Richard asked him out of curiosity.

"He's about three years older than I am, but damn, Gallades must age well. Actually, I think most Pokémon age well compared to us humans." Owen replied.

"Looks like we're the lucky ones then, huh?" Richard happily responded.

"Yeah, while we're kicking around in our seventies, we'll be all old but at least we'll have something nice to look at. I'm sure Chase would have a few wrinkles by then though." Owen said with a big smile on his face.

"And I'm sure Tera will have some gray fur here and there, but it won't matter to me, and I doubt those wrinkles will matter to you either." Richard said to him.

"Yeah, I'll still love that bastard no matter what he looks like in his old age." Owen happily told him.

"And I'll still love Tera even if she has to get around with a walking stick." Richard said.

"A Lucario with a walking stick, why does that image make me want to burst out laughing?" Owen said before chuckling a little. "Hey, thanks for talking with me Richard." he added.

"Anytime, Owen. I knew you and Kovick were getting along pretty well when he was around." Richard told him.

"He seemed like a nice guy, I hope we can find them soon." Owen replied as his voice quietened.

"We'll find them, I doubt those four would go down without a fight. I don't know anyone that hates slavers more than Louis, and with Reaper watching his back, I can't imagine them being easy targets. I still haven't seen what Tobias can do personally, but I get the feeling that I wouldn't want to get into a fight with him. Then there's Kovick, with him around to patch them up, I can see them being a big problem for anyone that tries to take them down." Richard happily said, trying to keep the agent next to him in a positive mood.

"I have to be honest Richard, I don't expect to see any of them alive again." Owen told him.

"Even if we don't, we have to try and get them back. I don't plan on leaving anyone behind." Richard replied.

"You may have to at some point Richard, but I sure hope you don't have to." Owen said to Richard as he got up out of his stool. "Thanks again for listening to my ramblings, I think I'll go sober up in my room now." the agent informed him.

"I'll walk with you, your room is near mine anyway." Richard replied as he got off his stool and walked out of the bar area with him.

"Going straight back to bed?" Owen inquired.

"Yeah, besides, I'm starting to miss Tera." Richard said with a smile.

Owen chuckled a little. "You're inseparable from her!" he exclaimed.

"So I've been told by Bruce, through a load of unfunny conjoined twin jokes." Richard told him as they made their way back to their rooms. A few minutes later, Richard said goodnight to Owen before taking his room key out of his trouser pocket and opening the door with it slowly and quietly, not wanting to wake the Lucario inside. As he opened the door, he saw Tera still in bed. The only part of her body that wasn't covered up by the sheets of the bed was the back of her head. 'Cute.' Richard thought as he smiled lightly, and closed the door behind himself.

Almost as soon as the door locked into place, Tera quickly looked towards the doorway, seeing Richard there. "Where were you?" Tera tiredly asked as she rubbed her eyes with her paws.

"With Owen, he was down at the bar but I didn't feel like drinking." Richard stated as he walked over to the bed and sat down on it whilst taking off his shirt. "He looked like he needed someone to talk to so I talked to him." he continued.

"What did you two talk about?" Tera asked him before silently yawning.

Richard dropped his shirt on the floor before looking back at her. "I was just talking to him about stuff, like his boyfriend." he casually said.

Tera's eyes widened as she heard him say that. "Owen has a boyfriend?" she quickly asked.

"Well, he has an ex-boyfriend, but I'm sure he'll get back together with him. It's kind of strange really, I never figured him to be the type to go for other guys. Were there any people like that in your clan?" Richard inquired with curiosity in his voice.

Tera smiled as she nodded. "There were more males than females in our clan, it wasn't unusual to see a man with another man. I haven't seen that between human males before though." she told him.

"He wasn't with another human, he was with a Gallade called Chase." Richard told her with a smile while he took off his shoes and socks.

"A Gallade? I always did think they look like humans in some ways." Tera told him.

"Yeah, I thought that too. Anyway, Owen was feeling a little down over his ex. He said he wanted to be with him again. I hope he does get back with him, sounded like he missed him a lot." Richard said to her as he slipped out of the rest of his clothes.

"Why are they not together anymore?" Tera innocently asked.

"It's complicated, I'll tell you more about it later. Now, I just wanna spend some time with you." Richard replied as he got under the covers with her, and pulling her close to him. He could feel the her hard chest spike tickling his skin a little as he gently kissed her lips.

"You always want to spend time with me. That's one of the reasons I fell in love with you." Tera told him as her paws gently stroked Richard's chest.

"What were the other reasons?" Richard asked as he grinned a little, already knowing what her answer would be.

"Everything else about you." Tera happily replied before deeply kissing Richard.

Richard quickly returned the kiss as he pulled her on top of himself. At least there were still some fun things in mind they could do without needing condoms.

* * *

**Author's notes: A thanks to hironada for editing this chapter! I'll send this chapter to BigBossSonic when he gets back. ^^ Oh, and thanks for reading! Also the 18th floor balcony thing is a reference I think only me and Deathlark will get, but it seemed to fit perfectly into the story. So thanks to him for the idea.  
**


	59. Firepower

Tobias and Kovick now sat in the middle of the forest, around their campfire. The flames of the fire were kept low to keep the chances of being seen in the night to a minimum. It had been a day since they were chased out of their last camping spot, and everyone was making sure that they won't be caught off guard like that again. Tobias rested on his makeshift bed made from leaves by the campfire, keeping his AK close to himself while Kovick tried to get a little warmer by the campfire. Tobais wondered if he should have killed that Flareon. He had began to think that she may have informed those soldiers of their whereabouts, but he wasn't sure. He began wondering why that same Flareon would risk her life just for a drink of water if that was the case. He thought that maybe her job was to gain his trust, but he wasn't sure of that. He thought of killing her the first time he saw her, but then he thought twice. He thought that if other slaves were watching, he could have been seen as just another one of Silas' men, which would ruin his plans to round up some slaves to help even their odds. He felt like he should have interrogated her, or at least questioned her more.

Tobias suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as he heard footsteps close to the campsite as he got up with his AK still in his hands. He saw Reaper and Louis walking over to them, looked like it was Kovick's and his turn to keep watch. "See anything?" the agent asked the pair of them.

Reaper shrugged before saying, "I thought I heard something out in the jungle, but with all the stuff out in there I'm not surprised. Could have been anything."

"I'll stay alert." Tobias said before walking over to Kovick. He watched as the blond haired man picked up his gun before walking away from the campfire, with Tobias. A few minutes passed, and nothing was said between the two. Tobias was happy this was the case though, it meant they had less chance of being heard and he wouldn't have to answer any questions he had no interest in answering.

Kovick on the other hand was feeling a little bored, nervous and awkward all at the same time. Eventually, he felt he had to say something to break the silence between them. "Hey, about that Flareon... Why did you let her go?" he whispered to Tobias as they stayed hidden in the darkness of the forest.

"That Flareon could have been a slave, if so, she could help us gain the trust of any others we meet in the future. She may also know the location of any others that can help our cause." Tobias explained.

"But what if she led those soldiers to us? Do you think she might be working for them?" Kovick questioned him.

"It's a possibility, but we need to take risks if we want to survive. We won't make it out of here without help." Tobias replied.

"I didn't think you'd show that Flareon any mercy after you almost got burned by it." Kovick said to him.

"If we were not in this situation, perhaps I wouldn't have." Tobias replied as he a cold serious look quickly spread across his face.

Kovick didn't doubt that, the man seemed cold, but he wasn't a monster. "To be honest, I think she was just defending herself. I'd probably do the same if I was being chased by an armed man." he responded.

"I know, I took that into consideration when I was deciding her fate. I was thinking about pulling my trigger on her." Tobias told him.

"What else stopped you?" Kovick asked him. He wondered if there even was any other reason that stopped Tobias from pulling the trigger. He got the feeling that even though he wasn't a monster, he may have killed someone he shouldn't have in the past. He just seemed like that kind of person to Kovick.

"She could have been innocent." Tobias simply said as he walked around in the forest, quietly patrolling the area with the man next to him.

Meanwhile, Louis and Reaper lay in their makeshift beds as they talked to each other. "Think the others are looking for us?" Louis asked the old Scyther.

"If Richard is still leading them, I think they are." Reaper told him.

"I hope they find us fast, I hate all these bugs... No offense." Louis chuckled lightly.

"Sometimes I wish I had human hands, so I could flip you the middle finger." Reaper replied with a smile on his face.

"Speaking of human hands, I feel sorry for you Scythers. Must be a bitch to get yourself off." Louis said before lightly laughing.

Reaper smirked before saying, "I don't need to get myself off, unlike some desperate humans, I can actually get someone to do that for me."

"I have never seen you with a girl before." Louis said as he shook his head.

"I'd be swimming in them if I didn't have to babysit you." Reaper replied with a chuckle.

Louis laughed a little as he closed his eyes. "What kind of girls do Scythers go for anyway?" he asked.

Reaper thought for a moment before a devious response formed in his mind. "Human girls." he replied before watching Louis quickly open his eyes and look over to him. "Hah! Just joking with you, I just wanted to see your reaction." he told the human.

"Ha ha, very funny." Louis sarcastically responded before closing his eyes again.

Reaper chuckled a little to himself before closing his own eyes as he still spoke. "If I get rich from this mission, I wouldn't mind if a few human girls took interest in me." he said with a smirk before feeling as if someone was staring at him. "Why do I feel like someone is watching me?" he added.

Louis shook his head before closing his eyes again. He knew Reaper was just trying to get a reaction out of him. "Goodnight Reaper." he said to him with a little smile on his face.

"Goodnight Louis." Reaper said to him as he softly smiled. Reaper didn't agree with some of Louis' views, but that didn't stop them from becoming best friends. In a way, Reaper almost felt related to him, even if he was human.

The next day, Kovick awoke from his short daytime nap before rubbing his face and instantly feeling thirsty. He knew there wasn't much food or water left to go around their small group, he knew that it'd all run out by tomorrow. They could have had more to survive on, but the soldiers with the flamethrowers and guns forced them out of camp so fast that they had no time to grab anything else but their weapons. He hoped Tobias had a plan to get some more food and water. Kovick also hoped he could get some medical supplies. He didn't want Tobais' wounds getting infected. Kovick sat up in his leafy bed before looking over by the burnt out campfire to see Reaper and Louis sitting by it. "Where's Tobias?" he asked them both before yawning.

Reaper chuckled a little before saying, "I think he's gone to empty his bladder. Us old guys have to do that more than you two."

Kovick smiled a little, he was glad to see that at least they didn't seem worried. "You old guys seem very fit for your age." he said to the Scyther.

"I take care of myself when I can." Reaper proudly said.

Louis laughed a little before saying, "I don't think getting drunk off one glass of Bruce's booze is taking care of yourself."

"That was a strong drink." Reaper told the two humans.

Kovick shook his head, feigning disapproval. "Bruce's drinks are illegal in some places, I wouldn't touch them if I were any of you." he said to them.

"I learned my lesson." Reaper replied with a smile on his face.

Kovick stood up before walking over to Reaper and Louis. "How are you both feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Kovick." Reaper happily replied.

Louis sighed before saying, "I'm feeling dirty in these clothes, but we're in a jungle so I just have to man up. Wish there were a few girls around here too, human ones I mean."

Kovick crossed his arms, feigning disapproval once more. "What's wrong with Pokémon girls? Richard and Bruce seem happy with them." he said with a smile.

"Sorry man, but I'm just not into them at all." Louis replied as he smiled back. He didn't want Kovick to think he was an extremist, but still the idea of being with a Pokémon still felt wrong to him.

Reaper was just happy to see them getting along so far, he remembered the outburst at the gas station. He guessed since then, Louis had loosened up a little about the whole Pokémon and human relationship thing. "Good, more girls for us, eh Kovick?" Reaper responded with a little grin on his face.

"More girls for you maybe." Kovick replied before sitting down nearby the friendly Scyther.

"Still saving yourself for that girl you like?" Reaper asked him.

"Aneko? Err... Well, I'd like to be with her, but I'm not even sure things would work out between us." Kovick answered him.

"Really? Want to talk about it later?" Reaper asked him, knowing it may be a little awkward talking about it around Louis.

"Sure." Kovick answered him. He was glad that he still had people to talk to around him.

Meanwhile, away from the camp, Tobias stood in the forest. He held his AK tightly in his hands as he looked around himself. "You're bad at hiding. Come out. Now." he said as he looked over to a bush which now rustled a little as a familiar orange furred form crawled out from the bottom of it. "Do you want to get caught?" Tobias asked her in a serious tone of voice as he walked over to her, almost threateningly.

The Flareon backed up to the bush she hid in, feeling more than a little afraid of the human in front of her. 'I shouldn't have came back to him!' she thought to herself as she looked left and right quickly, wondering if she should dash away. Tobias followed her eyes, he knew she was thinking of running for it. "You led those men to us, didn't you! Don't lie! You lie I shoot!" Tobias angrily shouted, making himself sound angrier than he actually was. He wanted to put fear into her, either way, he had to be sure.

"D-don't!" the Flareon pleaded as tears began to form in her eyes. She was afraid, she felt like she could trust the human a little, but now that trust had been shattered. Even if he wasn't a slaver, she was afraid of him now.

Tobias could see her shaking, the tears beginning to form in her eyes, and he didn't need a translator to know that there was fear in her voice. He felt like he had made a mistake, but he knew he had to be sure. He still wasn't sure, but he didn't think she was working for Silas'. Tobias knelt down, trying to lower himself down to her level to seem less threatening, yet still keeping his gun pointed at her. He knew that at this range, they could both easily kill each other. He knew he had to choose his words carefully. "We were attacked last night, I thought you had something to do with it." he honestly said to her.

The Flareon's eyes widened as she realized why the human was being so harsh on her. He thought she was a spy. The Flareon shook her head, trying to tell him that she wasn't. She knew it wouldn't do her any good, but she kept on crying. "I-I'm not!" she shouted to him.

Tobias still wasn't entirely convinced that she was telling the truth, but he didn't really think she was lying. "Listen to me carefully." Tobias calmly said to the Flareon, who now looked straight at him. "I had to be sure you were not one of them... I think it is best that you no longer follow me or my group." he told her.

"N-no!" The Flareon screamed, knowing that without help, she'd die out here. Just as Tobias was about to say something else, he heard two sets of footsteps. They sounded like they came from the direction of the camp. He quickly spun around to see Reaper and Louis running over. He knew they must have heard the shouts.

Reaper looked over to the two of them, Tobias and the Flareon. He realized that must have been the Flareon Tobias told them about earlier. "What's going on down here?" he asked them both.

Tobias realized that he should explain before the Flareon says anything. "I thought this Flareon was leaking our position to those soldiers, she's been following us all this time. I told her to stop following." he informed them.

The Flareon looked over to the Scyther and younger human next to him. She could see a handgun in the younger human's hands, she knew that if they wanted to kill her, she didn't have much of a chance to get away alive. She hoped that they'd be friendlier than the older human in front of her. "I-I'm sorry! I don't want to be hurt!" the Flareon cried out.

Reaper was surprised this was the Flareon that had nearly burnt Tobias. He was expecting someone tougher. "We're not going to hurt you." he quickly reassured the Flareon.

Tobias kept his eyes on the Flareon in front of him, he wanted to know why she shouted the word 'no' to him just a few seconds a go. "Why are you following us? Why don't you want to leave us?" he quickly questioned her, wanting to know her motives for following them.

The Flareon looked between the Scyther and the older human. The Scyther seemed friendly, but she was still afraid of the humans. She thought maybe they weren't so bad, she thought maybe they were just afraid like her. "I-I can't survive o-out here." the Flareon nervously stuttered.

"You're not native? You're not from this island?" Tobias probed for answers, now wanting to know where this Flareon may have came from. The Flareon shook her head in response as she looked down to the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with any of the men as if it would provoke some kind of outburst in one of them if she did. "How did you get on this island?" he asked her as his tone of voice became less threatening than the other times he questioned her.

"S-slavers." the Flareon answered as she kept her head down.

Reaper looked over to Tobias, he believed the girl. He knew that adapting to an environment like this could be too much on someone like her, and he wanted to make sure she went unharmed. "I believe her, Tobias." he told him.

Louis looked back to Reaper. "What are we gonna do with her then? I heard Kovick talking about our supplies going low, can we even feed someone else?" he asked his friend.

Reaper sighed before saying, "I don't think she'll last very long if she stays on her own. I think we need to bring her along. If we bring her along, we'll also gain some extra fire power."

"Fire power?" Louis repeated as he looked at Reaper, knowing what he meant. "Well, shit... I think you're right but what happens if she turns out she's some traitor or something?" he asked.

"We outnumber her, I don't think she'll risk it. Look at her." Reaper said as he pointed at the teary eyed Flareon.

Louis didn't really know what to say or do, so he just looked to Tobias. "What do you think we should do?" he asked him.

Tobias wouldn't have wanted her to stay around him, if he was on his own. But he wasn't on his own, and he realized he was the leader of this small group now, and this wasn't just his choice. It seemed to him that Louis seemed indecisive about what to do with her, Reaper clearly wanted to keep her around, and judging from Kovick's personality, he guessed he'd want her to stay. Tobias lowered his gun as he now stood up and looked down to the female Flareon in front of him. "I'll allow you to come along." he said before walking away from her and back to camp.

Reaper looked over to the Flareon, who now seemed unsure of what to do. She still looked a little scared, he wanted to put her mind at rest. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked her, wanting her to know that he was concerned for her.

The Flareon looked back at the Scyther, he seemed to be the only person that trusted her so far. "I-I'm okay." she told him nervously.

"My name is Reaper, do you have a name?" He asked her.

"Myla." The Flareon told him as she wiped her eyes with a forepaw.

"My-lah?" Reaper sounded out before smiling. "Nice name. My friend is called Louis." he said as he pointed to the younger human next to him.

"Hey." Louis said as he nodded once.

Myla smiled a little, she felt like she could trust the Scyther, even if she was still scared of him a little. "Hi." she said back to the human.

Reaper was glad to see a smile on her face, she seemed like a nice person to him. "Come on, we'll take you back to our camp. We have someone that can treat you if you're feeling sick." he told her as he turned around and started heading back to camp with Louis.

Myla remembered seeing a blond haired human with them, she wondered if that was the person that could help her if she gets sick. "Is he friendly?" she timidly asked.

Reaper nodded as he cut through the foliage of the forest with his blades. "Kovick is a very friendly person, you'll like him. The only way you'll have a problem with him is if you don't agree with Pokémon and human relationships." he told her.

Myla pulled a little confused face. "Why? Does he have a Pokémon girlfriend?" she asked.

Reaper chuckled before saying, "I think it has more to do with his parents than who he's interested in. But he does like a Ninetales girl."

Myla nodded as she began to wonder what his parents were. A few moments later, she quickly found herself walking into their camp they had set up. She saw the blond haired man again, his back was turned to her though as he talked to the older gray haired man. She walked closer to them before she overheard the gray haired man telling the blond one that she was approaching them. Kovick looked behind himself before he saw the Flareon looking up at him and saying a single word. "Hi."

Kovick smiled as he walked over and knelt in front of her, and introduced himself. "Hello, I'm Kovick. What's your name?"

"Myla." she replied to him as she began to notice his red eyes.

"It's very nice to meet you." Kovick told her.

Myla smiled back at the human, she wasn't expecting him to be so friendly to her. "Nice to meet you too." she shyly said to him.

"Can I get you anything? Maybe some water?" Kovick asked her before she nodded her head. "I'll go get some then." he added as he got up and walked over to his makeshift bed.

Myla walked over with him, watching as he picked up a plastic water bottle that was only one quarter of the way full. "Y-you're going to give me some?" she questioned him, wondering if that was the only bottle he had on him.

"Yeah, it's not much but that's all I have on me." Kovick told her as he unscrewed the bottle cap.

Myla really wanted that water, her mouth felt dry, but she didn't want to burden them so soon. She wanted to resist taking it, but she couldn't. She opened her mouth and let Kovick pour the rest of it into her mouth. She closed her eyes as she swallowed the clean water being poured into her maw. She hadn't had a drink of clean water since the gray haired man gave her some. She quickly opened her eyes and closed her mouth when there was no water left. She felt slightly bad about taking the rest of Kovick's water, but he did offer. "Thank you." she said to him.

"You're welcome." Kovick happily said to her.

"What will you drink?" Myla inquired as she began to feel a little worried for the human.

"Don't worry about me, it won't be easy, but there are ways of extracting fresh water from the forest. Just stay away from the river though, drink any of that unpurified water and it'll do nasty things to your insides." Kovick advised her.

Myla nodded before saying, "I will... Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Kovick replied.

"Why are your eyes red?" Myla asked him.

Kovick smiled a little at the question. "Where do you come from? Kanto?" he inquired.

Myla nodded. "Yes." she answered him.

Kovick soon realized that she had probably never seen another human with a Pokémon father before, he just hoped that she wouldn't react as badly as Louis did when he found out about his family and views on Pokémon and human relationships. "Well, my eyes are red because it's a genetic trait passed on from my father." he said before being quickly interrupted by the Flareon.

"Your father had red eyes too?" Myla asked him with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, because he's a Gallade." Kovick happily told her.

"A Gallade?" Myla repeated.

"Yeah. Things are different where I come from, it's not unusual to see a human with a Pokémon partner." Kovick responded with a smile.

Myla smiled widely, she was glad to hear that not all humans were like the ones in Kanto. "The humans I've seen only go with other humans." she told him.

"That's because there are different laws in Kanto." Kovick began to explain.

Tobias watched from a distance as Myla and Kovick talked, it seemed like they were getting along well. He just hoped that he wouldn't regret bringing that Flareon along. "We have to move out!" Tobias announced to the others as he grabbed his gun and prepared to leave the campsite. He knew they couldn't keep on the run from the soldiers on this island forever, he had to put his plan into action now. He had to strike back at these soldiers. They were low on supplies and he knew that those soldiers had exactly what they needed. Ammo, food, water, and more importantly, slaves. Judging from the cells he had seen on this island, there could be up to twenty slaves in each building, and all of them could aid them.

The team walked on through the forest as usual, watching where they stepped as the sun started to go down. Already Kovick was thankful to have the Flareon with them, having her around meant they wouldn't have to spend any time getting the campfire going tonight. Everything was going normally, until Tobias stopped in his tracks and quickly signaled for everyone else to do the same. "I see light, up ahead." Tobias whispered to the others as he pointed past a few trees to what looked like a dim light. "Possibly slave housing, maybe an outpost. Doesn't look like the source of the light is a fire." he added as he slowly made his way towards the light.

Reaper followed Tobias closely with everyone else, quietly moving past the trees until they could see the source of the light. They were bright floodlights, placed in the middle of what seemed to be some some slave housing. There were two buildings on opposite sides of the floodlights, both facing each other and about fifty feet away from each other. Around the floodlights, Reaper spotted a few soldiers, some were unarmed, obviously not expecting an attack. Reaper then looked a little to his right, spotting a jeep with three men near it in familiar uniforms. "Tobias, I think I've spotted vipers." he quickly informed him.

"I see them." Tobias said as he watched a group of three men climb into the doorless black military jeep. One of the men climbed in and manned the mounted gun, and that was the man that caught Tobias' attention. They were far away, but he recognized that gas mask he wore. It was an M45 gas mask to be exact, with tinted black lenses so his eyes couldn't be seen. He could easily tell it was the same person because of the paint job on the mask. The right side of the mask was a dark red, and the the left side remained black. The man also wore a black balaclava under the gas mask, presumably so he wouldn't even leave a hair behind. Tobias was sure that same man was in the group that brought him to this island. "They must be searching for us, that man on the was one of the men that brought us here." he told his group as he heard the jeep roar to life before driving away from the slave housing.

Louis looked around the area, spotting a few soldiers with flamethrowers. "Hey, there's some more of those guys. How are we going to deal with them?" he asked.

"From a distance." Tobias replied as he began plotting. "I have a plan." he said to them.

Kovick looked around with the others, only spotting a few soldiers. "What is it?" he asked.

"A generator powers those lights, and it's going to be located behind one of those slave houses. It'll be protected from the elements, so it'll be in something like a small shack. All we have to do is take out the few we can without attracting any attention, and lure the others out by cutting the power to the lights. When the first shot is fired from my gun, that's when you all attack." Tobias told them.

Louis looked straight back at Tobias, he had a few questions on his mind. "Who's going to turn off the generator?" he inquired.

"I will, and I may need Reaper's help." Tobias said before looking over to the Scyther.

"I'll help." Reaper responded with a little nod.

"Louis, I'll also be needing my handgun back. You can take the AK." Tobias told him before quickly handing his AK over to Louis.

"Alright." Louis happily said as he traded his 9mm handgun for the more powerful AK.

"When the shooting begins, that's when we strike. Remember that." Tobias told them before patting Reaper on his shoulder and sneaking away, still crouched. Reaper quickly followed the agent. They both knew that they'd soon have to take another life.

* * *

**Author's note: Cliff hangers, cliff hangers everywhere! Damn, reached over 200K words with this... AWW YEAH! :D Anyway, wanna thank the usual people, mah readers and BigBossSonic, unfortunatly hironada was too busy to edit. :(**


	60. G3A3

Tobias and Reaper crept around to the side of of one of the slave houses, remaining hidden behind the trees and bushes as they spotted the generator they were looking for. It was covered by doorless corrugated metal shack that was pressed up to the wall of the slave housing to shield it from the heavy rain that often occurs on the island. Tobias thought about just creeping up to it and sabotaging it, until he noticed two men walking over to the generator. One of the men was wearing dark green combat trousers along with the dark green jacket that many slavers wore. That man also carried a G3A3 rifle with a telescopic sight mounted on it. The other man wore a gray fireproof jumpsuit, along with tactical knee pads and a pistol holster on his belt, along with two pouches to hold the mags in. Tobias didn't notice anything strange about the man in the jumpsuit, but the other man carrying the G3A3 caught Tobais' attention. He had seen a lot of people on this island wielding AKs, but he hadn't seen anyone else with a G3 rifle before. He wanted that gun, but there wasn't much he could do to acquire it at the moment. He just waited for the two of them to pass by as he stayed hidden away in the bushes with Reaper, waiting for the right moment to strike as the two men talked.

"I love this gun." the man wielding the G3A3 said.

"If you loved that thing anymore, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd stick your dick into the barrel! Hell, you probably already have!" the man in the jumpsuit replied.

"Says you, you fucking pyro!" the other man quickly and angrily retorted. "Lets see you try to burn a fucking sniper that's putting a bullet in your head from half a mile away!"

The man in the jumpsuit shook his head before saying, "I don't think any bastard is gonna be sniping us from half a mile away, there's so many fucking trees around here, a sniper would be lucky to hit anything a hundred feet away."

"Why the fuck did you pick a flamethrower anyway?" the man with the rifle questioned him.

"Because even if someone does hide behind a tree from me, they'll still get burned." the other man responded as they walked pass the generator which was still humming away, providing power for both the lights outside and inside the slave housing.

"It's fucking useless to anything that's resistant to fire, like cha-ck!" the man's neck was quickly twisted and snapped, just as the other man looked over his shoulder. The man barely got a glimpse of his friend's body falling to the ground before his own life was ended quickly and suddenly.

Tobias watched as his fresh kill fell and thudded to the ground with a broken neck, as blood sprayed from the bloody stub that was the neck of Reaper's victim. The head and body of his victim thudded to the ground less than a second apart. For a moment, Tobias thought that the sound of their lifeless corpses hitting the ground would be enough to alert the others, although he guessed the sound of the generator humming nearby was enough to cover-up any noise. Tobias quickly grabbed his kill by the ankles and quietly dragged him into the bushes while Reaper awkwardly pushed his kill into the bushes as blood poured from the stub. Tobias quickly crept back over to the generator to pick up the head of Reaper's kill. Tobias had to admit that Reaper's kill was pretty clean. Tobias also picked up the G3A3 dropped on the ground by the soldier before walking back over to the bushes, and dropping the dead man's head he was carrying on his body.

Reaper looked straight back at Tobias as he ducked back into the bushes, right next to the headless man. He noticed that he didn't seem bothered at all by the head he picked up and threw down or the two dead bodies near him. Reaper guessed he must have done stuff like this a lot. For a few moments, they stayed hidden in the bushes, waiting to see if anyone else passes by. They waited a few moments before Reaper turned to Tobias. "What now?" he whispered.

Tobias looked at the barred windows on the wall behind the generator before creeping towards them with his G3 still in his hands. He kept looking all around himself as he silently approached the barred windows, and looked through them. Inside he could see into a cell, containing Pokémon that looked like they were a mix of the Pokémon that were native to the island and brought in from other places. As he cautiously looked past the bars of the cell, he saw two human males and a Machoke sitting at a table, calmly playing some sort of card game on a wooden table. He noticed the humans were wearing slaver jackets, and the Machoke was shirtless and wearing combat trousers. He also noticed there was a big sharp knife jammed into the table. Tobias then sneaked back to Reaper and the dead bodies. As he looked down to the bodies, an idea started to creep into his mind. "I have a plan." Tobias said to the Scyther in front of him.

The Machoke slammed his cards down on the table with a big smile in his face. "Pay up, bitch!" he proudly and loudly shouted.

"Mother fucker!" one of the humans shouted as he covered his own face with both hands.

"Damn right I fucked your mother!" the Machoke shouted before laughing at the human's misfortune along with the other human.

"Shit heads." the same human angrily mumbled do himself as he pushed a big pile of pokédollars his way. "Take it all! Buy yourself a fucking shirt with it!"

The Machoke smirked as he said, "I think I'll buy myself a few hours with your mom."

"Ohh, just fuck you." the angry human replied.

"No thanks, but it's nice to know you're getting into the old family business of whoring yourself out." the Machoke sharply replied before bursting out laughing.

The human felt like slapping himself in anger, he had lots of ideas to insult him if he had grown his extra arms yet, but he hadn't so he was stuck without any snappy replies. "Fuck right off." the human tiredly said as he shook his head and looked down to the table. The human heard a scuffling sound behind him before he looked around to the door leading outside. He expected to see one of the men he knew walking in, but instead, he saw a man falling to his knees as he stumbled inside the building. His slaver's jacket was covered in blood, along with his face and parts of his grayish hair. He was also clutching at his ribs, which made the men think he was injured.

"Shit!" the human exclaimed as he jumped out of his chair and grabbed his M4 rifle that was resting next to the table.

"Who the fuck is that!" the Machoke shouted as he grabbed his shotgun and hastily walked over to the man that was covered in blood and struggling to stand up

The blood covered man looked at the men in the room before shouting rough voice, "I saw escaped slaves! They took out my patrol and kicked the shit out of me!"

"Fuck!" the human slaver shouted as he charged over to the door with his M4. "Must be those same fuckers the vipers warned us about! Get some fucking backup on the radio!" he shouted back to the others.

Tobias watched as one human charged over to the radio while the Machoke joined the other human and covered the door. It looked like they bought his cover, all he had to do was take out the threat. He looked over to the cells, looking at the various pokémon that now had confused and scared looks on their faces, before looking past them and at the barred windows of the cells. At one of the windows, he could see Reaper's face. Tobias nodded once, and Reaper soon left his sight.

"I don't see anything." the slaver with the M4 said to the others a few moments before the power to the buildings was suddenly cut, causing the lights to shut off.

"You had to fucking speak." the Machoke angrily growled at him.

The man on at the radio looked over to the others at the front door, he was about to say something, before Tobias forced a big sharp eight inch blade through the side of his head, causing it to poke straight through the other side of his head with a sickening bone cracking and flesh tearing sound. By the time either the other human or the Machoke heard the thudding sound, Tobias had already pulled out the handgun he kept hidden on him, and took aim for the human first. He fired off the first round and watched blood and brain matter spray as the bullet penetrated his skull. It took Tobias less than half a second to acquire his final target, the Machoke that now quickly turned around to face him. Tobias fired off three rounds at the Machoke's head, knowing it would take more to penetrate the thicker skull of the Pokémon. The Machoke dropped to the ground, near the door without even firing a single shot.

"H-help." a small Eevee said to the man outside the bars before quickly hiding behind Lopunny.

"I need to find the keys to the cells." Tobias calmly responded to the young pokémon. He was surprised his plan worked so flawlessly. He searched the dead body of the human with the knife in his head, he briefly glanced up at him and noticed blood coming out of his nose and mouth too before Tobias realized he did not have the keys. He quickly walked over to the Machoke, and when he crouched besides him, he was surprised to see he was still breathing. His bullets penetrated his left eye, yet it appeared that was not strong enough to continue through the skull. It wasn't hard to miss where his other bullets went as part of the front of his jaw was blown away, causing massive damage to his lower lip, his front teeth and his tongue. It was hard to see what else the jaw shot did as blood poured out of his mouth like a fountain of blood. His third and final shot appeared to have taken away the skin between the Machoke's left and center ridges on his head. The shot exposed the bloody skull that Tobias aimed to hit. Tobias knew that the man was going to die anyway, so he might as well make it quick. He pressed the barrel of his handgun against the side of the Machoke's head before firing twice. The first bullet cracked the Machoke's skull before the second round forced the first one past his skull, and into his brain. It didn't take long for Tobias to get back to searching through the Machoke's trousers to recover the keys.

"Hurry, I'm feeling a little exposed over here." Reaper whispered over to Tobias, still standing outside by the window.

"Then hide." Tobias replied as he heard the sounds of guns being fired not so far away from the building he was in. He guessed Kovick, Louis and Myla were now stopping the slavers and soldiers in the other building from storming the one he was in. He blocked out the noises he could hear as he quickly opened the doors to the first cell, releasing a few frail looking Pokémon before moving on to the other cell, and releasing some more harmless looking ones. Tobias had planned on getting these people to fight for their way off this island, but he realized that if the people in the other building seem just as weak as the ones in this one, none of them may have a hope of escaping this place.

Meanwhile...

Kovick and Louis now stayed hidden in the bushes, keeping their AKs pointed towards the one and only door leading into the slave house. They had already managed to hit and kill two men, and now the others were pinned in the other slave house. They closed the big metal door behind themselves as well, but as soon as they did, Kovick, Louis and Myla all heard screams and shouts coming from inside, as well as gunfire before everything went silent. As Louis and Kovick kept looking at the slave house, Myla looked over to the other one that Tobias was now in. She hoped he was alright, after all, he let her stay with the group even though she didn't feel very useful. Everything was silent, until she noticed Reaper looking around the corner of the building Tobias was in. "Hey, I see... err, the Scyther." Myla said to the others.

"Reaper?" Louis replied.

"Yeah." Myla responded as she watched Tobias walk out of the building, covered in blood. She watched as Tobias hastily made his way back around the back of the building, along with a bunch of different pokémon. "I think they freed the slaves." Myla said as she smiled to herself.

Louis smiled to himself as he heard that. "Good, now we just need to free the ones in there." he said as he kept his gun pointed towards the other slave house.

Kovick felt like something was wrong over in that slave house, he wondered what made them shoot while they were safe and inside there, and what made them scream. He stayed quiet, until a few moments later when he turned around and saw Reaper and Tobias creeping back up to them. "Where are the slaves?" he asked them both.

Tobias lay prone with his G3A3 now in his hands as he looked over to the other slave house. "They ran." he simply responded. "What is the situation like out here?" he added.

Kovick sighed before saying, "I'm not sure. They closed the door and then I heard screams and shooting."

"Did the slaves attack?" Tobias asked.

"I don't know, but that's what I thought." Kovick replied.

Tobias looked at the slave house before coming up with a plan. "I need you and Louis to move down to the slave house and find out what is going on down there. I'll watch your backs and give you cover from here. Myla and Reaper, both keep your eyes open for anyone sneaking around us." he said to them all.

Kovick nodded, agreeing to Tobias' plan before slowly creeping out of the bushes with Louis, and heading out into the open. They were now both out of the safety and cover of the trees and bushes as they walked towards the slave house, getting closer and closer to the door as they kept their eyes open for anything, and listened for any noises coming from the building in front of them. It didn't take them long to reach the door, Kovick stood at the left side of the door and Louis stood at the right side of the door. They both looked at each other hesitantly, before Kovick stood in front of the door, and quickly kicked it open. Nearly as soon as the door opened, he spotted dead bodies on the floor, and pokémon in cells, including a Flareon that was now breathing fire his way.

"Fuck!" Louis shouted loudly as he grabbed Kovick by his arm and the back of his shirt before violently pulling him away from the door.

Kovick felt himself hitting the ground as a big wave of heat hit his face and uncovered hands as flames rushed out of the doorway. He lay on the ground as he saw the flames die down, and hearing a male voice coming from inside. He sounded younger than Louis or Kovick.

"Stay back! I can hit you from all the way over here!" were the words shouted at them.

Kovick got back up on his feet, keeping his AK in his hands before shouting back in. "We're not slavers! We're friendly!" he shouted back in.

"Prove it!" the male shouted back at them.

Kovick looked at Louis, before looking back at the doorway. He had to prove he was there to help. "I'm going to put my gun down and come in." Kovick told him as he put down his AK, and walked towards the door. "Coming in!" he said as he held his hands up and walked into the doorway. Now he could finally see who he was talking to, it was the same Flareon that almost burned him. Kovick immediately noticed this Flareon lacked the fur on top of his head that Myla and most others had. If there were any other differences to this Flareon, he couldn't see them because they weren't that noticeable.

"Make any sudden movements and I'll burn you!" the Flareon shouted at him.

This Flareon seemed much more aggressive than Myla, but Kovick couldn't blame him. "I'm just here to help." Kovick assured him as he looked around the interior of the building, seeing burnt dead bodies on the floor. Looked like the Flareon must have killed them when they had their backs turned.

"Try anything funny and I'll kill you!" the Flareon growled at him.

"You've got to trust me because without my help, you're going to be stuck in that cell." Kovick reminded him as he walked past the Flareon's cell, and over to a table before picking up a set of keys off it.

The Flareon wasn't going to say it, but he knew the human was right. He watched as the human picked up the keys and walked over to one of the other cells, unlocking it for a group of pokémon and humans before walking over to his cell. He watched as the others cautiously walked out of the building before running away. He didn't hear any screams or shouts, which made him believe they really were here to help. Immediately he felt sorry for almost burning the man that now unlocked his cell. The Flareon let the others get out before him, watching them flee from the building. The Flareon watched the blond haired man walk away, out of the door before quickly following him outside, stopping in his tracks when he saw another man there, holding a gun. The other man didn't really react though, he just watched the other pokémon and humans leave through the forest. The Flareon then watched the blond one pick up his gun and walk back towards the bushes before saying something. "Where are you going?" he asked.

Kovick looked back at the Flareon as Louis walked on. "Going to rescue more slaves, I guess." he replied with uncertainty.

"Can I come?" the Flareon asked him.

Kovick thought for a moment, but he realized that decision would probably be one best made by Tobias. Although he was in favor of letting him join, after all, one Flareon is good, but another angrier Flareon that wants a little revenge would be a great asset to them. They were down on people anyway. "If you want to." Kovick replied.

The Flareon realize that if he was going along with this man, he should apologize for what he almost did. "Sorry I almost burned you." he said before laughing nervously.

His nervous laugh made Kovick smile a little before saying, "I didn't get hurt, so we're good."

The Flareon walked alongside the human. "I truly mean it." he replied to him.

"It was a scary situation, I know that you only did it to defend yourself and the others." Kovick said to him as he now made his way past the bushes. "Now come meet the team, you won't be the only Flareon around if you join us." he told him.

The Flareon was a little happier to hear that as they now approached a group. The Flareon saw a male Scyther, a female Flareon, and all together, there were three human men. "Hi." the Flareon said to the group in front of him.

"Hello." Myla happily replied to him.

Tobias looked a little confused for a second before looking back at Kovick. "Who is he?" he asked him.

Kovick shrugged before saying, "I just found him locked up in one of the slave cages. He said he wants to help us. Can he come along?"

Tobias looked at the male Flareon, he looked to be in good shape. No injuries, and he looked to have been fed regularly during his stay at the slave house. He hoped that he'd prove useful in a fight. "Does anyone have any objections to bringing him along?" Tobias asked the group as he looked back at them. There was no response from the others, but he didn't expect one anyway. He knew Louis didn't exactly warm up to Myla, but he had sympathy for slaves, and he knew for sure that this male Flareon was certainly a slave. Tobias looked back to the male Flareon, looked like they had a new addition to the team.

* * *

**Author's notes: Hopefully there's no more mistakes in this chapter! :D Anyway, yeah! More Flareons, more guns, and more single people in one place! Hope ya all liked this chapter, oh, and a thank you to BigBossSonic and Hironada for editing this chapter. :3 Oh, and thank you all for reading!**


	61. Respect the law

Only a few hours had passed since Tobias and his group had freed a load of slaves, and gained a new ally. Tobias watched the others in the group, watching as they ate some of the food they had scavenged from the slave houses. He didn't feel like talking to any of the others right now though, so he just lay in his leafy bed. The newest Flareon member was now talking to Kovick, they seemed to get along just fine. He just hoped that the two Flareons wouldn't become attracted to each other, he believed that would just make them weaker if one of them weren't to make it. Besides, he knew now wasn't the time for romance. Tobias wasn't going to say it, but he believed that half of the people in this group wouldn't make it out alive.

He thought that Myla was weak and scared, the main reason he brought her along was because that's what the others wanted. Tobias also thought that Kovick was a weak link, he thought of him as far too trusting. Louis was another he wasn't expecting to make it out alive, he didn't have any proper training with weapons or even join the army at any point in his life. To Tobias, Louis was nothing but an angry child that only really cared about revenge. The ones that he did expect to survive were Reaper and himself. It was too early for Tobias to tell if the new Flareon would have what it takes to survive.

Kovick was now talking and laughing with the new male Flareon in the group, he was surprised he found someone with a sense of humor in a place like this. "You're a funny guy." Kovick happily said.

"In a good way, right?" the Flareon responded with a little smile.

Kovick chuckled as he nodded, before realizing that he hadn't asked him a question he had been meaning to ask him. "What's your name?"

"Name? I don't have one." the young Flareon replied to him before Louis quickly interrupted their conversation.

"Can't you guys name yourselves? Humans do it." Louis told him.

Reaper shook his head before saying, "I picked a name for myself."

Louis looked confused before saying, "I called you Reaper though."

Reaper chuckled, suddenly realizing something he had never told him. "I'm only called that now because you gave me that name. Before I met you, I had a different name."

"What was it?" Louis quickly asked him.

"Frank." Reaper told him.

Louis couldn't help but laugh a little. "Frank? Didn't think you'd be called that. Doesn't sound so Scyther-ish."

"Well there's lots of names humans have I don't think are very human-ish." Reaper replied with a smile.

Kovick chuckled a little at their conversation before turning his attention to the Flareon next to him. "What about Charlie? I think it suits you." he said to him.

"Cha-rlie?" the Flareon repeated before smiling a little. "I like it."

Kovick chuckled before saying, "I'm glad you do."

Myla lay next to the campfire as she looked over to Tobias, quietly watching him. She thought that she should thank him for letting her come along, but part of her was a little afraid of him. When she was alone with him, she thought that he might torture her at one point, but instead he let her come along. She guessed it was a good idea to stay on his good side. She got up on her paws and walked over to him as she noticed his eyes quickly settling on her. "T-Tobias?" she said to him as she hoped she didn't get his name wrong.

"Yes?" Tobias quickly replied to her.

"Thank you, for letting me come along." Myla quietly said to him.

Tobias wasn't expecting that, he wasn't expecting her to talk to him at all really. "You don't have to thank me." he told her as he noticed something about her eyes, they were almost black, yet they also seemed to have an orange tint to them.

"And thanks for the water." Myla added with a little smile.

Tobias sighed before sitting up and asking her a question he had on his mind for a while. "How did you escape the slavers?" he asked her.

"It was like how he escaped." Myla said as she pointed to the other Flareon with one of her forepaws.

"Someone freed you?" Tobias questioned her.

"It was a big group! Like an army. When they let me out, I ran because there was just so much shooting going on I couldn't think straight." Myla replied as her small smile slowly turned into a frown.

"Do you know who those people are, or where they were going?" Tobias asked her, hoping he could get a little more information on what he had to deal with on this island.

"No, but they were nice to the other slaves though." Myla responded.

"Do you think they would help people like us?" Tobias asked her, now wondering if this group she talked about could get them off this island.

Myla smiled as she said, "I think so. I think they want to help people like us."

"Maybe." Tobias said as he began to think of other reasons people could possibly have for freeing slaves.

Myla looked as confused as she felt when she heard Tobias say that. "Do you think they might be bad?" she asked him.

"I don't think they're working for Silas, but I don't think we should rule out the possibility that they may want something else from us. Stay alert if we run into these people." Tobias warned her.

"I-I will." Myla stuttered before smiling.

"Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Tobias asked her.

"Just one thing, if you don't mind answering that is... How old are you?" Myla inquired. She had been wondering how old he was since she started watching them.

"I'm forty-nine years old. How old are you?" Tobias questioned her.

Myla wasn't expecting him to be that old, she knew that he was older than the others, but not that old. She guessed she wouldn't have been so surprised if she had spent more time with humans back in Kanto, but Pokémon don't really mingle with humans over there anyway. "I'm twenty." she answered.

"I thought you were somewhere in your twenties. Now, I need to get some sleep. I need to be awake for tomorrow." Tobias told her.

"Oh, okay then. I'll talk to you later." Myla replied as she turned around to walk back over to the others.

Tobias closed his eyes and tried to get comfortable in his leafy makeshift bed. He was surprised the female Flareon approach him again so soon, he thought that she may have been bitter over him questioning her the way he did before allowing her to stay. He thought that perhaps she was less fragile than he thought she was.

Reaper smiled as he watched Myla walk back over to them. "Hey, I saw you talking to Tobias. What did you talk to him about?" he asked her.

"I just wanted to thank him for letting me stay here." Myla told him with a little smile on her face.

"Well, if he seemed a little off with you, don't blame him. I don't think he has much experience in dealing with other people in a nice way." Reaper replied.

Myla looked over to Tobias before looking back to the Scyther in front of her. "Why is he your leader?" she inquired, hoping to learn a little more about him.

"Because honestly, I don't think anyone else wants that kind of responsibility. I'm already feeling a little overwhelmed just watching over Louis, and he's an adult now. Sometimes the kid doesn't act like it though." Reaper mumbled.

Louis unscrewed a bottle of water as he shouted over the words, "I heard that!"

"I thought you would." Reaper responded with a little smirk.

Myla smiled a little as she began to feel a little more relaxed around him. "I guess being the leader is a big responsibility." she said.

"Yeah, it's a good thing that Tobias has next to no emotions. I don't think I've seen him smile once. Kovick thinks it's because he may have had some kind of traumatic experience." Reaper told her.

"What do you think happened to him?" Myla questioned the Scyther.

"I don't know. That man doesn't like talking about anything." Reaper responded.

"What do you know about him?" Myla asked him.

"I know that he's really dangerous, and he's killed a lot of people. He's an agent, but I don't know if he works for a specific region. I don't even know where he comes from. The man is tough as nails too, he has a shot up thigh and he still pushes himself to sprint. I wouldn't want to be one of his targets." Reaper said to her.

"He can be scary." Myla told the Scyther.

"Yeah, especially when he's pissed with people. Anyway, I'm going to get some rest, not my turn to keep watch tonight." Reaper said to her.

"Goodnight Frank." Myla happily said to him.

"Just call me Reaper." he replied with a little smile on his face. "Goodnight." he added before walking back over to his bed for the night.

Meanwhile...

Bruce, Kiara, Robert and Lenneth were all walking down a busy street. It was dark and Bruce was drunk as usual, Kiara had also stumbled over her own four legs a few times too, but Lenneth and Robert were both sober. They had just finished drinking at a nightclub, with music far too loud for Lenneth's liking. Owen had asked them to watch Bruce and Kiara, he knew the soldier and the Gardevoir would be more responsible than the drunkard and Glaceon. Bruce felt someone bump into his shoulder, he didn't think anything of it, until he heard a loud shout behind him.

"Are you drunk?" A loud male voice shouted over to him.

Bruce turned around to see a cop, he guessed he must've been patrolling the streets. He was big, maybe six foot four, with short black hair. He almost looked like he was balding at the sides of his head, and as Bruce looked down to his stomach, he could only think of one thing. 'Two hundred too many donuts for this piggy.' he thought to himself. "Yes I am! Wanna get boozed up too?" he joked as he smiled and walked on a little slower.

"Sir, please don't speak to me like that." the overweight cop said to Bruce with authority in his voice.

"Like what?" Bruce quickly replied as he stopped in his tracks.

"Like you're out to cause trouble." the angry looking cop raised his voice as he walked towards Bruce.

Kiara, Robert and Lenneth looked on, confused as to what exactly was going on while Bruce just began to feel a little pissed off at the cop in front of him. "What the fuck is your problem?" Bruce quickly questioned him. 'He looks like one of those cunts that like to do whatever the fuck they want with a badge.' he thought to himself

The cop then tried to push Bruce back against the wall of a building, but Bruce wasn't moving. "Don't get aggressive with me, unless you want to spend some time in a cell. I will arrest you if I have to." the cop threatened.

Kiara growled at the cop. "For what!?" she quickly shouted.

The cop looked straight back at Bruce as he heard those words from the Glaceon. "You should keep your rodent on a leash and muzzle it." the cop replied with clear hate in his voice.

"What did you say!?" Kiara quickly shouted back at him.

Robert couldn't just stand by and do nothing, he wanted to at least try to stop this from going too far. "We don't need to get..." Robert didn't bother to finish his sentence because the shouting just started up again.

'This fucking fat piece of shit thinks he can fucking push me around? Who the fuck does he think he's talking to!?' Bruce angrily thought to himself as he pushed his the cops hands off himself. "Don't fucking touch me!" Bruce shouted, quickly getting the attention of passersby.

"Where do you come from?" the cop questioned him loudly.

"Johto, where the fuck do you come from? You look like you crawled out of a shitter." Bruce angrily replied, barely restraining himself from striking the man in front of him. Kiara clearly felt just as angry as Bruce too. Bruce could tell that if he didn't rip into this man, then she would.

"Are all people from Johto as stupid as you? Obviously your parents didn't teach you any manners or respect, did they boy?" the cop quickly responded as he reached down to his belt, almost looking like he was going for his gun.

'Fucking trying to insult me?' Bruce thought to himself before shouting, "I think your fucking parents must have dropped you twice as a child, once on your head, the other time, on your face! You're as smart as a piece of shit and you look like one too! You try fucking pulling your gun out on me, and I'll take your handcuffs and ram them so far down your shit eating mouth I'll pull out your fucking lungs with them!"

Soon after the cop heard those last words, he grabbed Bruce by the shirt and roughly pushed him against the wall, slamming his back into it as. "I..." was the single word that left his mouth before Bruce slammed his fist right into the side of the cop's head, and again with his other fist.

Robert and Lenneth watched in shock as they saw the cop stumbling back only to be pushed by Bruce onto the cold hard concrete of the sidewalk. "What the fuck you gonna do now!?" he shouted as he jumped on top of the cop and started punching away at his head.

Robert hated this cop that Bruce was pummeling, but he realized if he didn't stop Bruce, he was going to kill him. He didn't want Bruce getting himself stuck in jail. "Stop!" Robert shouted as he tried to pull Bruce off the cop. "Lenneth!" Robert called out. Lenneth knew what to do, she was forced to use her psychic powers to pull Bruce off the now bleeding and dazed cop.

Bruce wanted to go back in to punch and kick the cop, but then his senses quickly came back to him. 'Shit, I just fucking knocked the shit out of a cop.' he thought to himself before looking back at Kiara and shouting two words. "Leg it!"

Kiara quickly ran off down the street with Bruce, running back to the hotel. She was just glad that Lenneth and Robert could keep up with them.

* * *

**Author's note: Bruce gets knee deep in shit more often than a plumber that specializes in fixing toilets. Good thing he's used to this kind of stuff. XD Thanks to Hironada and BigBossSonic for editing this for me once again, and thanks to everyone else that read this! Oh, and thanks to Infinity-darkmage-Zarfeeeer who provided a better line for the cop. ^^  
**


	62. Behind the mask

Owen was now driving his car in the middle of the night. Everyone else was in their seats, drowsy and half asleep. "Bruce." Owen called over to him as he kept his eyes on the road.

"Yeah? Is this about the cop?" Bruce asked him.

"You know you could've been jailed right then and there, right?" Owen reminded him.

"Yeah, I know, but the fucker deserved everything he got!" Bruce angrily replied. "Would you let some fucking major dick head just call your partner names?" he quickly questioned the agent.

Kiara looked up at Bruce, smiling a little. She knew he really cared about her, even if he did sometimes seem like he wants to kill her. She knew that he'd never really hurt her. 'He's a big softie inside.' she thought to herself with a little smirk.

Owen didn't want to say it, but he thought Bruce was in the right. "No... But you could've landed yourself in jail. You've got to stay out of trouble now! No more shoplifting, no more fighting cops, no more destroying government property, and no more drinking." he firmly said to him.

"Fuck that! I have a right to punch dickheads right in their shit eating mouths! I'm not going to let any bastard talk down to me!" Bruce shouted back at Owen, infuriated that the agent's words made it sound like he brought this on himself.

"If you don't keep yourself under control, I'm not going to be able to stop the police from locking you up! Now I'm not saying that he didn't deserve a punch, but you've got to keep yourself calm for your own good." Owen told him as he kept his eyes on the road.

Richard knew dwelling on this wasn't going to do anyone any good, so he quickly tried to get their minds thinking about something else. "None of us have to worry about the police, not anymore anyway. Thanks to Owen's friend, we're going to be going dropped into a war zone on a small island not too far from Sinnoh. They believe that Silas' men have taken over the island in preparation for a massive attack on Sinnoh that could possibly leave their army crippled. We're going to be working with Hoenn's military to help aid Sinnoh in getting rid of any hostiles on the island, and reclaim it." he informed them all.

"I was getting tired of doing fucking nothing anyway." Bruce replied before thinking for a moment. "Oh, by the way...Rob, and ghost, thanks for pulling me away from that pig before I killed the bastard."

"G-ghost?" Lenneth stuttered with a frown.

Meanwhile...

He stood in a bathroom as he washed away blood from his bruised hands while looking at himself in a mirror. He was six foot and two inches in height, and had a fairly athletic build. There was hardly any fat on him, just muscle, but not too much. An M45 gas mask which was painted dark red on the right side of it was fitted over his face, the left side remained black, just like the tinted lenses. The man rarely put the mask to any practical use, but he knew it struck fear into the hearts of those that were opposing him. He loved to see the fear in people's eyes when the last face they see is hidden behind a mask. The only part of his head that was visible was his messy jet black hair, and the lightly tanned skin of his neck.

Usually, he'd wear a balaclava, but the heat during the day was unbearable with it on. He once used it to hide the scar on his throat, but now he only wore it during missions. One thing that he always wore though was his uniform. All black tactical gear with some dark red parts on it, the uniform of a viper.

"Sir, everyone stationed at three-fourteen is dead." a very deep masculine voice told the human.

The human looked back to the bathroom door. "Was it the rats?" the human grumbled through his mask.

"I don't believe so sir, this attack was different. Either the escaped slaves have new tactics, or someone else has stepped up to fight us." the masculine voice replied.

The man in the gas mask stormed towards the bathroom door, opening it to see a Nidoking there. "Well we'll just have to teach whoever just stepped up, to fucking learn their place and sit back down!" the man shouted in anger. "Silas is not pleased right now, he's mad because MY men fucked up! I personally took down that old man myself, I gave my men specific instructions to make sure the prisoner was secured. Yet somehow, a man in his fucking fifties manages to escape and evade countless armed men, and rescue his fucking shit eating friends!" the man yelled as he slammed the back of his fist into the wooden wall of the cabin they were in.

The Nidoking's heart was racing, he knew the man in front of him would not accept failure. "I'll have all our men on this island on full alert in light of the circumstances. That old man will not leave this island alive." the pokémon assured him.

"Make sure he doesn't reach the docks, our helicopters, or anything else that bastard can use to get out of here. If you see him, do not underestimate him because he will rip out your lungs through your eye sockets if he gets the chance. If you let him leave, I will rip out your lungs through your eye sockets myself, you understand?" the human questioned him.

Throughout the entire conversation, the Nidoking couldn't keep his eyes off the desert eagle holstered on the man's right thigh. The pokémon knew it was called his execution gun, because he had seen the human use it for just that, many times, during his stay on the island. "Yes sir." he professionally responded.

The Nidoking couldn't see it, but the human was smirking right now. He loved to terrify and make people hate him sometimes. He turned and walked away from the Nidoking, towards the door leading outside. "Remember, not even the fucking birds leave this island unless I say so." the man said as he walked outside, leaving the Nidoking in his little home. He walked down some wooden stairs before looking around himself, seeing a helipad to his left, APCs and LAVs to his right, and big dull metal buildings surrounding everywhere else. This was Silas' main base of operations on this island. It wasn't much, but it was always enough to suppress any slaves that escaped.

The man walked over to one of the APCs that currently had several vipers standing around it, two of them were pokémon. One was a male Lopunny, and the other was a gallade. "Where's my gun?" the man asked as he approached and looked to the Lopunny.

"I'll go get it, Asher." the Lopunny responded as he walked into the back of the armored vehicle before walking out of it a few seconds later, with a big M95 sniper rifle.

Asher took his gas mask off, seeing no point to keeping it on anymore when he was with men who already knew that they shouldn't mess with him. He had another scar, a straight one going down from the left corner of his lip, down to his chin. His eyes were brown and he had a strong jaw line. "Good boy." he said to the Lopunny before stashing away is gas mask in the black satchel at his hip, and grabbing his rifle. "Did you clean this?" he said as he looked over his rifle.

"Yes sir, sorry, if you did not wish me to." the Loppuny quickly replied.

Asher smirked a little, knowing that this new guy was already almost licking his shoes, metaphorically speaking. "Good work, keep doing stuff like that and we'll get along just fine." he calmly said to the Lopunny before looking at the Gallade. "Drive us back to station three-fourteen. The rest of you, get in the back with me." he told them as he walked into the back of the APC before finding his seat in the big metal vehicle, and sitting down on it.

"We were at three-fourteen not so long ago." the Lopunny said to Asher.

"We were, and they must've got hit soon after we left. They can't have gotten far, even if it's the agent. They don't have many places to hide, we own most of this island now! When we burn the rats out of their hiding places, we'll sink our teeth into them and thrash them around until they're nothing but a fucking bloody mess." Asher firmly told them as he heard the engine roar to life while the rear door closed.

The Lopunny waited until they were moving to whisper to a human viper next to him. "Is Asher always this violent?" he asked.

A human with his face hidden by a balaclava turned to him and whispered back. "Asher is so fucking brutal that even his family tree has a guy hanging from it. Whatever you do while you're with us, just don't get in his way. He'll shoot through you if it saves his life." the man very quietly replied.

Asher could see them both talking, but he wasn't interested in hearing what they had to say. All he wanted was to shoot someone, or brutally beat them. He just wanted to do his job, and kill every escaped slave he could, and maybe get a big pay bonus by taking out an agent and his friends. "Hey, Lopunny boy!" he shouted over to the pokémon as he smirked, seeing a look of shock already spread across his face.

"Sir?" the Lopunny replied, hoping that he hadn't angered him in some way.

"If you're always this afraid around me, you're going to be shitting yourself when you see me angry." Asher told him as the other vipers chuckled.

The Lopunny didn't reply to him, he didn't feel like slipping up and saying something that could anger the human. He had heard what he's like when he's fighting, and according to everyone he's talked to about him, he's never lost a fight.

A few hours later, the APC stopped at station three-fourteen. When the back door opened, they could already see the slavers that were to take up residence at the station dragging out the bodies of those that served there before them. Asher took a look around, seeing two humans now dragging out a dead Machamp. "What a shame, that one I liked." he told his men as he pointed towards the dead Pokémon that was now thrown onto the pile of the dead. "If they had enough people to take out this place, then they'll leave enough tracks for us to follow." he optimistically thought before walking away from the APC, and into the jungle.

Hours passed them by as they pushed on, deeper into the jungle. They all remained watchful, being careful where they step. They all knew one wrong step in this forest could be a death sentence. They walked in a straight line, staying together as they all watched each other's backs. Suddenly, all their heads turned to the right as they heard a loud bang, followed by a female scream. Without saying a word, Asher moved silently in that direction with his team. He didn't waste time putting on his mask, he knew he had to deal with this now, and he had to remain ready for everything. They moved closer and closer to the screaming until eventually, they saw the source of it. They all saw a human woman, white skin, short brown curly hair, about twenty years old. She was lying on the ground screaming in agony as she clutched at her right thigh whilst blood spurted out of the stump below the kneecap.

As soon as Asher saw she had no weapon, and no markings indicating she was one of them, he decided her fate. "Escape isn't an option for our slaves." Asher said to her as he came out of his cover, still holding his sniper rifle.

Terror filled the woman's heart as she tried to get away, pushing herself away from him with her arms and her one good leg as blood kept spurting out of the massive wound. "No!" the woman screamed out.

Asher shook his head as he hastily walked over to her, quickly closing the distance. "You're giving me a headache!" he shouted at her as he raised his right leg, and stomped on her mouth, twice. Sharp striking pain filled her mouth just as blood did as she begged him to stop, but he didn't stop. As soon as he was done silencing her screams, he kicked the broken and exposed bones poking out of her stump whilst yelling, "I fucking dare you to scream!"

The woman coughed up the blood that flooded her mouth as she whimpered and tried to scream as much as her damaged body would allow her.

"This is what happens when you try to escape." Asher said to her before walking away from her, and back to his group.

The Lopunny looked to Asher, who was now leading them away from the dying woman. "You're going to leave her there? What if she survives this, sir?" he asked him.

"Then it will teach her, or anyone who finds her, being a runaway slave will not leave you looking pretty." Asher said to him with a smirk on his face as he happily listened to his victim's whimpers fading away as he walked further onwards. "Why do you care anyway? Did you want to finish her off?" he inquired. "Maybe even do something else with her? Wouldn't be the first time I've seen my men do something like that."

"No, sir! I just wanted to know why you chose to do what you did." the Lopunny informed him.

Asher stopped in his tracks before chuckling a little. "How long have you been on this island, rookie?" he questioned the pokémon.

"Only one day sir, I was assigned here to replace your fallen comrade." the Lopunny responded.

"Well, things on this island work very differently to how things at our other bases work. You can enjoy yourself here more, and do you want to know the real reason why I did that to her?" Asher asked him as he looked back, and saw the Lopunny nod in response. "Because I fucking felt like it." Asher told him before walking on. "Now watch you don't get your legs blown off by one of our own box mines, they're all over this fucking place."

The Lopunny and the other men kept their eyes open for more of those mines, while the Lopunny also kept an eye on Asher.

* * *

**Author's note: Damn! I didn't think I'd reach over 300 reviews when I started this story! XD I expected like... I don't know, maybe 3 or 4. ^^ I chose for this chapter to be more about Asher because he's been talked about long enough, time to show what he can do. :3 Oh! Thank you to BigBossSonic and hironada for editing for me again! :D And thank you great people for reading, reviewing, favoriting, doing awesome stuff! XD**


	63. The viper strikes

Three days later...

"Aww, shit." Louis mumbled he looked just a few feet in front of himself, seeing the bodies of three humans. The eyes of the corpses had already rotted away, the flesh was rotting and infested with various bugs. There were flies buzzing around them, and the ones that weren't flying were laying their eggs. Some of the corpses had their faces in the ground, and all had their hands tied behind their backs. Louis held his M4 in his hands, tightly. He knew that if soldiers executed these people, then they could still be around these parts.

"What is it?" Tobias asked upon hearing Louis' mumbled words, just moments before he saw the bodies. Tobias looked back to the rest if the group, who now also saw the dead bodies. He noticed the female Flareon was the only one that seemed really uneasy around the dead bodies, the others seemed to have gotten used to seeing them by now.

"What do we do?" Louis asked the agent.

"We keep moving, keep watching for traps and ambushes." Tobias told them all before walking on, past the dead bodies.

Reaper walked on ahead, eventually catching up with Tobias. "Hey, about our plan." he said to the agent, instantly getting his attention.

"What about it?" Tobias replied.

"I'm not sure if it's going to work... We've found a lot of dead bodies while we've been wondering out here, and nearly all of them look like slaves. Even if we do get an army of these slaves, do you really expect any of them to make it out of this island alive when they're going up against vipers?" Reaper questioned him as they walked on.

"No... but their lives will give us enough time to escape." Tobias bluntly told him as he kept on moving.

"So, we escape while slaves die for us. I don't think the kid will be happy about that." Reaper told him.

"Who ever isn't happy with it is more than welcome to stay here. If they want to live though, they'll follow me." Tobias replied whilst coming up to a clearing in the jungle, and taking in a sight he wasn't quite expecting. The jungle trees were all dead, along with every bit of foliage around them. Even the shrubs and moss on the ground was dead.

Myla turned her head to look at the massive wasteland filled with dead foliage. "What happened here?" she asked the others as she quickly grew confused as to what could have done this.

"The soldiers must be using herbicides to get rid of any hiding places hidden away by the trees or the vines." Tobias told them as he squinted to look over at a patch of green near the mountains. It looked like some of the trees on the other side of the wasteland survived.

Kovick looked over to Tobias. "I'm not sure if we should be here. Whatever killed these trees could still be in the air, and I don't feel good about that if it's something like agent orange." he quickly told the older man.

Charlie looked over to the human medic with a confused look on his face. "What's agent orange?" he asked.

"It's a herbicide, but it can also have serious effects on your health. It can cause birth defects too." Kovick informed him.

Louis backed away from the wasteland as he looked over to the others. "Let's get the fuck out of here before we get all mutated." he nervously said to them, just before a gunshot could be heard.

Tobias could hear the sound of a bullet wizzing past, followed very shortly by the brief sound of flesh tearing and bone cracking. As Tobias turned around to run, the sounds of loud screams filled his ears as he saw Louis hit the ground. "Run!" he yelled out.

Louis clutched just above his left wrist as he screamed out whilst he closed his eyes tightly. It felt like something ripped his wrist apart, he dared not look at the wound even as he felt the warmth of his blood covering his arm, and what felt like the rest of his hand. He had never felt pain like this before, and it only got worse as he was pulled by someone. He felt like he was being dragged across the ground, but he didn't open his eyes to see who it was. As he was dragged, he could hear voices, but he couldn't hear what they were saying through his own screams of agony.  
By the time Louis opened up his teary pain filled eyes, he saw the group was around him. He looked to his left wrist, right before his eyes widened in sheer horror of the sight before him. His hand was barely attached to his wrist. It was hanging off as the wrist pumped blood over the near severed hand. He screamed and shouted as he looked up at the other members of the team, seeing looks of shock and terror on their faces, especially Reaper's.

Kovick knew he had to act fast, and he knew what he was going to do. He quickly pulled out a machete from the sheath that was hanging from his backpack. They had used it to cut wood before, but he wasn't sure how good it would be for what he was about to preform.

"Hold him down!" were the only words Louis actually heard. He felt hands, paws and the flat side of Reaper's claws trying to hold him down, moments before he felt the machete cutting through what flesh was keeping his hand attached to his wrist. He tried to thrash around as what felt like torture went on. Suddenly, everything faded to black for him.

When Louis awoke, he felt something he hadn't ever felt before when sleeping in the forest. He was laying on something soft and comfortable, quickly working out it was a bed. He hoped that ordeal was just a nightmare, but as he looked to his left wrist, that hope was shattered. There were bandages wrapped around his forearm, tinted red at where his wrist was. He couldn't believe it, his entire left hand was gone. He lay in the bed, just staring at the stump for a while before realizing something. He looked around the room he was in, but there was nothing in it except for the bed he lay in, and a wooden chair to his left by the side of the bed. The walls, floors and ceiling were all made of wood, and there was a window he could see just a few feet away from the foot of the bed. There was a door a few feet away to his right, he figured he had better see what's going, even though he felt like staying in bed.

Kovick opened the door and walked into the room as soon as he saw his patient was awake. "Hey Louis, how are you feeling?" he asked as he walked around to the other side of the bed.

"How do you think I'm feeling?" Louis mumbled.

"Like shit." Kovick replied with a little smile. "It might not look like it now, but you were lucky. If that bullet struck you anywhere else, I'm not so sure you'd have pulled through."

"Where are we?" Louis bluntly questioned him.

"We don't know ourselves. We just found this place out in the middle of nowhere, Tobias thinks the owners are still around so he's keeping watch. I'll go tell them that you're awake." Kovick said to him before heading for the door, figuring that Louis was clearly not in the best of moods right now.

Reaper looked over to Kovick as he left the bedroom. "How's he doing?" he asked.

Kovick looked around the near empty living room, The only doors in this entire place were the bedroom door he just left through, and the door leading outside. The only thing that suggested other people had rested in this near empty place was the two mattresses and sheets that were near by the door he just exited, as well as empty cans scattered carelessly by the stone fireplace. "He'll be fine, he's awake right now." he told the Scyther.

"I'll go see how the kid is feeling." Reaper replied to him before walking past him quickly into the bedroom.

Kovick looked over to Tobias, who was now looking out of one of the windows. "It's starting to get dark, think anyone is still staying here?" he asked the agent.

"Perhaps." Tobias responded.

Myla, who was sitting next to Tobias' feet, looked up to him. "What are you going to do if they come back?" she inquired.

"That depends on what type of people they are." Tobias told her before walking away from the window, but keeping his rifle in his hands.

Kovick sighed as he sat down with Charlie on one of the mattresses. "Thanks for your help. If you and Myla weren't here to cauterize his wrist, he would've lost a lot more blood than he did." the human told the Flareon.

"It was nothing." Charlie happily replied.

Tobias looked over to Kovick and Charlie, looked like they were getting along to him. He then looked to his side, seeing Myla there. He noticed that she had been following him very closely since Louis was shot. He thought it was because she felt safer with someone who had a gun, and could use it well. He decided not to ask if that was the case though, he didn't feel like talking, he felt like keeping watch. He dropped his guard when Louis got shot, he wouldn't let, wouldn't allow it, or something worse to happen. He kept watch as night quickly came, and everything outside became dark and shadowy, almost foreboding as the visibility outside, as well as nearly everything inside darkened. Myla yawned, which got his attention for a second before he looked back up to the window, and saw something.  
"Movement." Tobias whispered to everyone in the room, which included everyone but Louis. He backed away from the window and knelt on one knee as he pointed the barrel of his gun towards the door.

Kovick quickly and silently moved next to Tobias as he pointed his AK towards the door, while the two Flareons moved to the same side of the room, just in front of Tobias, ready to burn whatever walked in through the door. Kovick wanted to go warn Reaper and Louis, but he knew they couldn't risk the noise. He waited with the others, watching the door as he heard a group of people talking as they approached the door. Soon, the door opened, and as soon as he saw a figure outside, he heard Tobias shouting.

"Guns down, or we will fire!"

* * *

**Author's note: No one is safe. ^^ Thank you to hironada, BigBossSonic, and Infinity-darkmage-Zarfeeeer for editing this for me! And thank you all for reading! **


	64. New blood

"F-f-f-fuck me!" Bruce shouted out, now dressed in thick clothing to keep him warm from the below freezing temperatures and the snow that never seemed to stop falling. Everyone was now wading through two feet of snow, on their way to a military outpost that went silent a few days ago. They had just climbed out of a massive snowplow they had used to travel there, but that same vehicle had broken down just a short distance away from their destination. "There better be a fucking mechanic at this outpost!" he yelled over to Owen. The winds of the blizzard they were walking in were almost deafening, so everyone had to speak up a little.

"We're knee deep in shit if there isn't!" Owen shouted back over to him.

Kiara was happily jumping through the snow with a big smile on her face as she looked at Bruce. "What's wrong big guy? Can't stand a little snow?" she asked with a giggle.

"This isn't helping my fucking cold!" Bruce shouted before sniffling a little.

Richard kept an arm wrapped around Tera's waist as they both walked together, pushing through the thick snow. He knew Tera got cold easily, he could already see her shivering even though she was wearing a big thick coat with the hood up. He could see a cloud of frost every time the air from her lungs left her lips."We're almost there! I can see the outpost!" he exclaimed as he pointed over to the silhouette of a one story building in the distance.

"I-I hope someone is in." Tera quietly said to Richard, shivering ever so slightly.

"Me too." Richard replied as they kept walking on.

As Owen and the rest of the team pushed through the snow and towards the outpost, he very quickly realized why the occupants went radio silent. Most of the buildings in front of them looked like they were bombed, only one building was left intact. It was rectangular, about seventy feet in length. He could see a few windows on the building as well as a very sturdy looking metal door. He hoped there were survivors in there. "Richard, we need to get to that building!" he shouted over.

"I know!" Richard yelled back as he kept pushing through the snow.

As the group slowly approached the building, Kiara zipped through the snow and reached the door. "It's open a little!" Kiara shouted over to the group, looking at Bruce who was running towards her through the snow.

"Shit! Don't run off like that!" Bruce yelled over before reaching her.

Kiara giggled as she smiled. "Worried for me? I should be worried for you!" she exclaimed.

"I can handle myself." Bruce shot back before turning his head and sneezing loudly. When he looked back at her, he saw a massive grin on her face. "Shut up." Bruce quickly replied before she could say anything.

Kiara smiled before cautiously heading into the building, while Bruce watched her back. She couldn't see anything inside, it was pitch black. "I don't see anything." she said to Bruce.

Bruce saw that the others were right behind him as he reached into one of his pockets, and took out an angled torch. "Let me shine a little light in there." he said as he held his shotgun with one hand, and turned on the torch with the other.

Lenneth, the Gardevoir looked inside just as Bruce turned his light on. She gasped at what she saw. There were frozen bodies of soldiers, some of them had limbs missing. There were over twenty bodies in the building, some of the men were shot. It wasn't just human soldiers in there, she saw the bodies of an Absol, and even a Glaceon in there. It looked like some had survived the fight, but in the end, it was the exposure that killed them all. Lenneth looked away, but she jumped at the sound of Bruce suddenly shouting.

"Fuck! This is just fucking amazing, we don't have any transport, everyone here is fucking dead, and now we're probably going to freeze to death!" he exclaimed.

Richard passed Bruce and walked into the building. He could see burn marks on the floor where they most likely tried to build a fire. The room had nearly nothing inside it, he guessed they burned everything to stay warm. He walked over to the pile of bodies, finding bullets in nearly every single one of them except for a few. It seemed to fit together with the chest high blood splatters on the walls. "We're not going to freeze! We've got more than enough supplies to hold out for a few days, and once the storm passes, we can radio in for help. Robert, is your radio working?" he asked as he looked back over to the rest of his group, all of whom were now inside the building.

"Yeah, but we're not going to reach anyone until this storm passes." Robert responded.

"Then let's make ourselves comfortable here, and let's drag those bodies out." Richard said to them as he grabbed one dead man by the ankles, and started dragging him outside.

"Do they have dog tags on them?" Robert quickly asked before Richard could reach the door with the body.

"I'll check." Richard said as he let go of the soldier's ankles and checked around his neck, finding a gunshot wound there in the process. "No, maybe whoever attacked here took them." he answered before quickly grabbing the soldier's ankles again and dragging him outside.

Bruce helped drag out a few bodies, along with Owen. It didn't take long to clear them out, and eventually, there was only one body left. It was the body of the Glaceon. Bruce could see two large exit wounds on the sides of the male Pokemon. Even though it was male, it still reminded him of Kiara. He wondered if the Pokemon had anyone that cared about him in the same way that he cared about Kiara. He began to wonder how many of those men he had already dragged out had families waiting for them. Bruce picked up the dead Glaceon in his arms, and took it outside. He noticed Kiara frowning a little as he walked past her. He didn't really want to do this, but they had no choice. They didn't need the bodies stinking out their only shelter.

Meanwhile...

Tobias kept his rifle aimed at the two people that walked through the door. A dark skinned man was the first to walk in, he had a gun in his left hand, but he had it pointing up to the ceiling. He had short black hair that looked untidy, and a beard about three inches in length to go with it. He was six foot and four inches in height, his muscular build made him look intimidating. He looked to be in his late thirties to early forties with a few wrinkles, but otherwise clear skin. He was wearing black cargo trousers, and a white T-shirt that was stained with mud, blood, sweat and other stuff Tobias couldn't make out. It didn't take long for the man to speak.

"I don't want any trouble... Just let me, and my friends go." the man said to Tobias as calmly as he could.

Tobias had to question these people, he had to know where they came from. "Put your gun down on the floor really slowly, no sudden movements." he said as he watched a Scizor walk in behind him. The Scizor appeared to be female, but Tobias couldn't tell for sure. He payed more attention to the Abra in her arms than anything else. It looked young, really young.

The muscular human male did as Tobias said, and put the gun down on the floor. He knew he couldn't fight his way out of this one. He knew even if he did somehow dodge a bullet from the man right in front of him, he'd still be mowed down by the blond haired man, or turned into nothing but ashes by those two Flareons. "We don't have anything for you to take, just the gun." the man said as he put his hands on his head, showing that he knew there was no getting out of this one.

"Who are you?" Tobias calmly asked as he kept his rifle pointed at the human's head. He knew he probably didn't mean any harm, but he wasn't taking any chances.

"I'm Trent... I don't know what they're called. I can't speak to them." the man said as he kept eye contact with Tobias.

"You don't have a translator?" Tobias questioned him as he looked at Trent's ears.

"Those soldiers have them, but we never could risk showing ourselves to them... I noticed you've got them though." Trent said as he looked at both Tobias and Kovick.

"These translators are all over the island. Those soldiers don't keep track of their equipment very well." Tobias informed him before lowering his weapon.

As it became clear that neither one of the groups meant any harm to each other, Kovick just had to ask Trent a question. "That accent, do you come from Johto?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do. I used to teach at a college there." Trent told the men.

"What did you teach?" Kovick inquired.

"I taught games. You know, for the ones that want to go on and make video games." Trent replied as he only just begun to realize how stupid that sounded, considering the situation he was in.

Kovick was surprised at his answer, he would've never have guessed it. "How did you go from teaching people how to make video games to walking around a jungle with a handgun?" he questioned the teacher.

"You can ask me all the questions you want, but can I sit down first? Both me and the Scizor have been walking around for a long time." Trent said to them.

Tobias thought for a second, he didn't want them to get too cozy around them, but they did seem harmless. He knew appearances can be deceiving though. "You can stay, for now." he answered him.

Trent and the Scizor walked over by the wall and sat down on the floor, just picking that spot so they had something to rest their backs on. "I was brought here because a gang targeted me. They were part of the slave trade, said they could use me for entertainment. They said I'd have to fight against other slaves if I wanted to live. Fortunately, there was a fight between the guards and the slaves. I ran into the forest along with many others, but I don't think any of the others made it. I barely made it. I met the Scizor later, she already had the kid with her when I met her." he told them all.

Charlie grew curious, and walked over to the Scizor who now gave him a strange look. "Hi, I'm Charlie." he said to the Scizor.

"I'm Shara." she replied to him, her words were almost emotionless.

"Nice to meet you, who's the Abra?" Charlie asked as he kept a happy look on his face.

"I don't know... His mother died a few days ago. She asked me to take care of him before she died." Shara said as she looked down to the Abra in her arms, who was now sucking on his own tail.

Kovick overheard what she said, he guessed it might have been a good thing Trent couldn't hear her. He was depressed just listening to that short conversation. He didn't know what these two were going to do now that they were here, but he just hoped that they were both as nice as Trent seemed.

A few minutes passed, and everyone had settled down. Trent was sitting down cross-legged, next to Shara. He looked around the room, looking at the two flareons and the other two human males. They seemed nice enough, but he had learned that not everyone is as nice as they seem. Trent looked over to the older male, he knew he'd be the person to speak to if he wanted to learn more about the group. "So, how did you get on this island? How were you taken?" he asked Tobias.

"Forcefully." Tobias responded. He didn't want to give away too many details to the man he only just met, even though Tobias now had Trent's handgun.

"We were all taken forcefully." Trent said as he looked down to the wooden floor. It became obvious to him that Tobias wasn't up for a big conversation, but that wasn't going to stop him from digging around for information. "You're the leader of this group?" he asked.

Tobias nodded in response before giving his one word answer. "Yes."

Trent was going to ask why he was the leader, but then he held that question back. He didn't want the old man with the assault rifle to think he was ageist. "Are there only four of you?" he asked the two humans.

Kovick looked back at him, guessing that he should know the situation they're in. "There are six of us actually, Reaper and Louis are in the bedroom. Louis took a bad hit." he told the big man.

Trent didn't like the sound of that, he instantly thought the worse. "Is he going to live?"

Kovick smiled a little as he nodded. He could see the concern through Trent's facial expressions and his tone of voice. "Yes, but I had to amputate the hand. It could've been a lot worse if the bullet had hit anywhere else." he informed him.

"You amputated his hand? Are you a doctor?" Trent questioned him, realizing a doctor could be just what they needed. He had been worried for the baby Abra the Scizor was carrying around, he had heard it cough a few times.

"I used to be a surgeon before all this." Kovick responded, thinking that the question was just out of general curiosity.

"Can you take a look at the Abra when you've got the chance? I've been hearing it cough a few times, don't know if it's anything to worry about." Trent said to the surgeon.

Kovick smiled as he looked over at Shara, he didn't know how she'd react to him asking her to look over the baby. "Can I?" he asked the Scizor.

Shara looked down at the Abra in her arms, she didn't trust humans, but she could tell just by the look of him, this human was not completely human. That made him a little easier to trust. There were a lot of humans that didn't like her kind. "Be careful with him." she said as she shot him a very serious look.

Kovick got the feeling that she didn't trust him very much, he couldn't say he wouldn't be suspicious in her position. "I just want to help. It's why I became a surgeon. Trust me, I'll treat him as if he was my own."

Shara looked down to the Abra for a few seconds before finally deciding to hand him over. She watched as the human carefully took the baby into his arms. She also noticed his smile, it looked like a caring smile too her, but she wasn't very good at reading humans. She saw the human checking the baby's heartbeat, looking over the skin of the Abra too before handing him back to her. "Is he sick?" Shara asked the human.

"Remarkably, no. I can't be sure without the appropriate medical equipment, but he seems to be a healthy baby boy." Kovick happily informed her.

As soon as Trent heard those words, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He couldn't really communicate with Shara, but he knew nothing would make her more unpredictable than something bad happening to that baby. The rest of the night went smoothly, with them talking back and forth casually. The only person that didn't get involved much was Tobias. Trent wondered what was wrong with that man sometimes, but he assumed he had a good reason to be like that.

* * *

**Author's notes: Hey everyone! Sorry this took so long to get out, lot of different shit going on over here but hey, least I'm still making new stuff! Just slower. :C Anyway, wanna thank BigBossSonic for reading this over and wanna say sorry to hironada, couldn't send you this chapter through email because of dumb reasons to do with the document, I kinda had to write all this up in the document manager. Will sort out those problems later, need to download Openoffice again. Anyway, hope ya all enjoyed reading the chapter! The action is coming soon. :3**


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